


Huening Kai and The Lost Curse

by lemqnie



Series: Huening Kai Trilogy [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, TOMORROW X TOGETHER | TXT (Korea Band), 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Brothers Choi Yeonjun & Choi Beomgyu, Choi Soobin Being An Idiot, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Gryffindor Soobin, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, M/M, Magic, Minor Choi Soobin/Choi Yeonjun, Mystery, Ravenclaw Kang Taehyun, Sad Choi Beomgyu, Slow Burn, Slytherin Choi Beomgyu, Slytherin Choi Yeonjun, Soft Choi Yeonjun, Sweetheart Choi Beomgyu, Teen Angst, To Read
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-13
Updated: 2020-08-30
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:15:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 57,380
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23629870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lemqnie/pseuds/lemqnie
Summary: At fifteen, Kai had no friends his age. He was a wizard and his family made sure to keep that secret hidden until he got a letter from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Follow Kai as he navigates through the darkest familial secrets, ancient runes, the cute Gryffindor boy, Soobin, who keeps confusing him and the grumpy Slytherin lone-wolf, Beomgyu.
Relationships: Choi Beomgyu & Choi Yeonjun, Choi Beomgyu & Huening Kai, Choi Beomgyu/Huening Kai, Choi Soobin & Huening Kai, Choi Soobin & Kang Taehyun, Choi Soobin/Choi Yeonjun, Choi Soobin/Huening Kai, Choi Yeonjun & Huening Kai, Choi Yeonjun & Hwang Yeji, Huening Kai & Everyone, Huening Kai & Kang Taehyun, Huening Kai & Kim Namjoon | RM
Series: Huening Kai Trilogy [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1701016
Comments: 106
Kudos: 223





	1. The Purple-Eyed Owl

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Massive thank you to JC (@cathswaite) for beta reading this chapter!

The Huenings were a quiet lot. They quietly moved into 6th Barton Road, they quietly took out the bins, and they quietly went on with their day. They could never disturb any of their neighbours because they just couldn’t comprehend being so bothersome! 

Mr Huening held a managerial position at a local homeware factory. Every day he’d kiss Mrs Huening and leave the house just before the eight a.m. news broadcasted, prim and proper in one of his eight pairs of brown trousers and his usual striped button-down that perfectly fit his strong figure. Then Mrs Huening would walk their two daughters, Cassa and Leah, to the primary school past the stream around their neighbourhood. After waving them off, she would return home and make sure to keep to herself, only giving a polite smile and a subtle flip of her hair to shield her skinny face if any of the neighbours greeted her. Overall, the family was perfectly ordinary aside from their being highly private.

If the neighbours  _ were _ to whisper about them, it would only be about how wonderful they were. Mr Huening was kind, Mrs Huening gorgeous, and their daughters were positively cherubic. At worst, they would comment about how the family did their best to opt-out of any communal gatherings and how their lights were out before the clock struck eight p.m., but each family had their eccentricities. They would never understand the true reason behind the family’s silence, a secret that could cost them their lives. For once every curtain in the house was drawn, a flurry of magic exploded within those four walls. 

Mr and Mrs Huening loved all their children equally, but there was one they paid particularly close attention to (one their neighbours didn’t even know to exist.) Their eldest son, Kai, who turned fifteen a few weeks ago, could command magic with only his fingers. Looking back, the two parents had come a long way from when Kai was just a toddler sparking the dinner table on fire every five minutes. They still kept him under strong supervision though, which meant homeschooling and limiting out-of-house trips as much as possible. Despite this, the Huenings were proud of how well they had raised him. Kai turned out to be a smart, fine young man who knew the difference between the Wizarding World and the Muggle World and the dangers of those two mixing. If you asked Kai, he could only thank one person for his upbringing, his mother. 

Huening Woojin was the smartest witch in her year, and despite her family’s strict pureblooded ideology, chose to marry an American muggle she fell in love with while training overseas with the Magical Congress of the United States of America (also known as MACUSA). Together they had Kai, who turned out to be as magical as a hippogriff, and two daughters just as ordinary as their father. For a while, they settled in the States and let Kai be enrolled in public school. This soon proved to be a bigger challenge than originally expected as Kai hadn’t learned to control his magic, which meant accidentally cursing one of his classmates after Kai had been picked on. Which, Woojin would like to point out, was a fair trade, but the principal hadn’t seemed to share the sentiment. They withdrew him from school and Mr and Mrs Huening took turns educating him on both muggle and wizarding matters. 

When he was old enough, he received the invitation to Ilvermony, the prestigious school for young wizards and witches of the Americas. Kai had hoped that this would be it, no more homeschooling and finally friends of his kind, of his age. What a disappointment it was to learn that not only was he rejected by humans, but it seemed as though he was even more unwanted by the wizards his age.  _ Because you’re a  _ half-blood  _ ,  _ they spat at him.  _ Because you’re too  _ muggle-like. He would spend days in a full-body binding curse and be made fun of by his peers for not knowing their lexicon and all the hip hang out spots. Kai was only eleven years old when he decided he no longer wanted to be part of the Wizarding World 

As tears streaked down his face, he ran home after an unforgiving Friday afternoon spent trapped by a drowning charm. His mother was there to soften his sobs. Without another word, she quit her job at MACUSA, called her husband home and the two of them began to pack up their house and left without a word to their friends in Arizona or a single speck of magical trace. 

They spent a few years on the road, endlessly moving in and out, never settling in one place to make sure MACUSA couldn’t track them down. If they were found, Kai knew he would be forced to enrol in a wizarding school and his mother would face some form of grave punishment he couldn’t even begin to understand as a child. As soon as they became too comfortable and one of their neighbours took notice of Kai, they were up and out of town. Now they lived discreetly, but they slept soundly every night knowing that their son was safe and no longer under the watch of any magicked body of government.

Only having been in the country for a few months, Kai had grown accustomed to the English weather and the slow but sure passage every day seemed to sustain. He’d wake, hear his father’s car engine roar to life, get ready, spend a few hours on arithmetics, science, and language then have his lunch break. If the sky was kind enough to stop the afternoon showers, he’d go into the kitchen to find his mother. 

Luckily, today was one of those days. 

“Can I go skate?” Kai asked. 

Woojin paused her carrot-chopping to look at him. “Have you finished your schoolwork?” 

“Yeah. I’ve got a few questions I’m stuck on, but I can ask dad later?”

“Fine. Don’t be out for too long. And remember to keep--”

“Keep off the main roads, yes. I know, Ma,” Kai cut her off. She gave him a pointed look and waved him away. 

Giddiness pumped through him as he dashed up to grab his skateboard, the rickety thing from when they first moved all those years ago. It was a bit worn down, but he made it work. 

Kai cruised down his street, the green hedges passing him by in a flurry. He shifted his weight to his left leg as he came to a crossing. After he made sure both ways were clear, he skated across and gave a big final push to continue on the gravelly pathway. 

In his head, he counted the number of months he had left until he would be allowed to apply for a job. He’d do anything to get him out of the house. A few weeks ago he entertained the idea of attending university. How nice it would be to be accepted on his merit and be free of prejudice, in an institute where everyone joined for the sole purpose of learning. 

The thing Kai realised was even though all his recollections of schooling were associated with bullying and torment, he still unconditionally loved learning and the idea of acquiring knowledge. He was addicted to the feeling of progression, of going from being helpless in a subject to self-sufficiency. He knew that all he wanted in life was to understand, to know with certainty. He couldn’t care less if that meant he would be shunned from the world of magic forever. After all, the mundane world had progressed beyond their time without magic and so could he.

Kai turned to the right to complete the round back to his street and that was when he saw it. A quick flash of brown wings ducked low to his house. At first, he thought it was a crow, which was normal. Usually, he’d cast a charm to ward them off from his room, but as he wheeled in his eyes caught sight of the thick envelope christened with a ruby seal.

Kai hopped off his board, pushed down with his right leg to flip the board up before he caught it with his hand. He stalked to his house, eyed the skies for that bird then picked the dirty-white envelope. On its front, written in fine print as though someone had broken out their quill and ink to write it out, were the words:

_ K Huening _

_ 6th Barton Street _

_ Chiswick _

_ London _

He had never gotten a letter before. Never lived in a place long enough to receive one randomly nor did he sign up for anything. With one last look around, he entered the house and called for his mother only to be drowned out by another voice. 

“Are you sure you saw an owl?” his mother’s voice rang out, strained. 

There was a pause. Kai inched closer towards the TV room. 

“There’s nothing else like it,” his dad answered. “Woojin, there were five of them perched on my car. They left these. Look.”

_ Left what  _ \--Kai wanted to ask, but he knew if he so much as squeaked his cover would be blown and he’d never know what they were talking about. There was a tug deep in his stomach but he did his best to ignore it. Instead, he lifted one foot after the other as slow as he could until he could just peer behind the arch that led into their TV room. He saw his father, fresh home from work. His usually pressed dress shirt now crinkled. His mother paced around, one stiff arm on her hip just above the hem of her overwashed jeans. In her hand, five envelopes with identical seals as the one he picked up from their porch. 

Kai squeezed the thick envelope in his hand before he flipped it over. On the back was the wax ruby seal bearing a coat of arms; an eagle, a lion, a snake, and a badger around the letter ‘H’. 

“How could they find us here? We’re not English, he’s not even registered under MACUSA. They couldn’t have known!”

Kai turned his gaze to his parents in the TV room. His father had an arm snaked around his mother’s shoulders that trembled vigorously. She was so disconcerted she could hardly speak. She managed the words “Tried so hard -- keep -- safe” and nothing more before she crumpled into his father’s arms. 

Kai had to viscerally stop himself before he ran over to help calm her down, it was an urge so strong he could not normally resist it but the need to know of the envelope’s contents and why it caused such hysteria in his mother--the woman who would put on a stoic face every time they had to move--was far greater than anything he has ever felt before.

Soundlessly, he crept up the stairs, stepping only on the boards he knew wouldn’t creak. Once he made it up to the first floor, he carefully avoided his sisters’ room. Those two, bless them, could not keep a secret to save their lives. Not yet, at least. 

With the door to his room behind him, Kai quietly pushed back so that the hinge would lock. After he was sure the door wouldn’t open, he faced his room and found his stomach drop. 

Across the wooden floor were tens of envelopes crafted of the same material and the same wax seal emblazoned on it. Kai’s breath stuttered out of him and he dropped to his knees, examined each one and saw no difference in them. It was as though they were perfect replicas. 

But that couldn’t be true! Each had the same print that no printer could create. It had bumps that Kai knew could only be formed by drying ink. There was a loud squawk and as he looked up Kai met the eyes of a striking amber owl. Its purple eyes gazed into him and held him steady as though it were waiting for Kai. The boy couldn’t tear his eyes away. It was only when the owl nodded at him did he realise this was no ordinary owl. 

He made no move to near it, but no move to ignore it either. Kai snatched the nearest envelope.

“You want me to open it?” he asked, voice minute. 

The owl blinked, gave a flutter of its wings, and nodded. Kai gasped. Dumbstruck, he let his fingers pry open the envelope, the seal crest shattering into tiny blocks of wax. Inside was a yellowish parchment. Kai pulled it out and met the owl’s stare. It ducked its head down as if to say “go on.” 

With a gulp, Kai swallowed down his hesitance and unfolded the parchment only to be greeted by more fine print. It read:

_ HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY _

__

_ Headmistress: Minerva McGonagall  _

_ (Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., International Confed. Of Wizards and Witches) _

_ Dr Mr Huening,  _

_ We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find the enclosed list of all necessary books and equipment.  _

_ We understand that you will not be enrolled in the first year as the other students have been and move on straight to your fifth year, for this reason, we have enrolled you in a separate class to aid your understanding of the first four years of Magical Education that all students of Hogwarts have passed thus far. We await your owl no later than the twentieth of August.  _

__

_ Yours sincerely,  _

__

_ Anghus Brown _

_ Deputy Headmaster _

Questions shot through him like gunshots. Await his owl? Skip straight to the fifth year? He felt groggy as he tried to catch up with his train of thoughts. He almost didn’t notice the owl had made its way towards him and perched on his lap, its talons slightly digging into his thin jeans. 

He met its purple eyes, wide and all-knowing. The owl carried a certain gravitas that Kai could not resist and even though he knew it couldn’t speak, he didn’t stop himself from asking away.

“What does this mean? I haven’t even got an owl. Please, tell me what I need to do.” 

The owl stared back at him. It cocked its head to the side but before he could follow it, his name was called out from downstairs. Kai knew if he didn’t reply his parents would immediately barge in and see the mess in his room. If he judged by the way his mother reacted to five of these envelopes, Kai didn’t think she could handle ten of them scattered around his room. He petted the owl’s round head. 

“I must go down,” he said. “If I don’t they might not even let me keep these letters. Will you get off me, please?”

As if it understood, the owl bowed its head and stretched its wings before it flew back to his window sill. 

Kai nodded. “Wait here.”

He skipped downstairs, an underlying excitement brewing within him. He couldn’t quite tell if it was anxiety or actual joy, or if it was a mix in between. He was ecstatic to have a reason to leave the house and to be able to jump straight into the fifth year. He’d spent countless hours his own daydreaming of friends and passed-on notes mid-class. He wanted to go to dances, he wanted to have a crush, he wanted what all normal teenagers got to have. But there was also the stress of the thought that he might have to relive the torture he endured back in Ilvermorny, of frozen charms and fire spells cast on him. The word  _ half-blood _ rang in his ears. 

His parents were still in the TV room before he stepped in, extra conscious of the way he stood. He needed them to not know. For once, Kai wanted to be in charge of his life. He was tired of moving on his parents’ will. A part of him, deep down, hated this feeling for he knew they did all this for his protection. Still, he couldn’t help it.

“Yes?” he quipped. 

His mother spared him a glance and upon further inspection, he realised she must have been crying. It felt like a blow to his gut, and Kai had to stiffen his resolve before he crumpled in front of her. 

“When did you get back?” mother asked as she rubbed her temple. His father sat in the armchair across her, his actions mirroring hers. Kai looked around before he replied.

“A few minutes ago. I went through the back,” he quickly lied and brushed his jeans. “Why?”

His father grunted, “We thought that was you we heard. Come, sit. We need to talk about something.”

Kai had a strong inkling he knew what this topic would be about. He has heard it multiple times over the past few years. His parents would give him the comforting talk about how lovely England had been but then ask if he had ever considered moving to place X and before he could reply the house would be packed and empty. But, Kai realised as he felt a shard in his chest, for the first time in his life he felt a sliver of disappointment in moving. As if… 

As if he wanted to stay. 

“Kai, you’ve grown into such a bright young wizard. And ever since Ilvermorny,” mother recalled with a cringe, “we’ve tried to keep you safe and still let you learn everything a wizard or witch at your age should learn.”

“Right…”

Mother patted the armrest of their beige couch, the ratty old thing that had come with the house, and sighed. “Do you remember when I used to tell you tales of wizarding schools? Right before you went off to sleep?”

He did remember. Vaguely he recalled the mighty Castelbruxo, the charming Beauxbatons, mystical Mahoukatorou, and the most famous and prestigious of them all… Hogwarts. 

Hogwarts. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. As in the school, he received a letter from today… Oh shit. 

Kai collected his posture and cleared his throat. “Yes, ma, what’s the… what are you getting at?”

“And I’ve tried to make sure no one in the wizarding world would know that you’re here because you said you didn’t want to be associated with them anymore. Not after… that. But somehow they’ve found you and these owls… we’ve never had owls, not even when you went to Ilvermorny, but they’re the primary delivery service for postage.”

“Like in the medieval days with pigeons and stuff.”

“Not like the medieval...” mother sputtered. “You know what I mean! And somehow Hogwarts has found you here. Even without your biological data recorded on any of the wizarding world’s international archives. And that only means your powers are manifesting faster than they ever were. They’ve detected your magic here. So, for your sake, your father and I’ve decided to reject these letters.”

_ What? _

“What?” 

Kai couldn’t recognise his voice, it felt as though he were drowning and everything became muffled around him. His mother was still talking, her mouth moving a mile a minute while his father just sat there. He knew full well his father couldn’t add his two cents mainly because he married into the wizarding world and had no interest in assimilating to the supernatural culture, but that wasn’t Kai anymore! 

Kai wanted to grow, he wanted to so badly understand the prestige surrounding the elite wizards and how they had passed that on to their children who enforce it on others. His heart was thunderous in his chest and his ribs hurt from having to contain it within him. He wanted to be normal! 

For once in his life, Kai was chosen. His name did not exist in their database or whatever those people used to sift through their citizen’s data, but he was chosen anyway. By his own merit. By his own… powers. Boredom and isolation had made those wizarding tomes his best friends. He made sure to master two spells a week and it seemed as though it had paid off. His metaphorical wizard arm was jacked and the most prestigious school of them all had asked for him to join them this coming fall. Or autumn, as he should start to say. 

No way. No way in  _ hell  _ would Kai reject this. He knew that there was always the offset chance that he’d be met with the same fate in Hogwarts as he did in Ilvermorny, but at this point, he was slowly going mad being locked up in his house the whole time and he has nearly reread each of the seven wizarding tomes his mother gave him twice! Knowledge was scarce in the household, he needed to leave. 

Sure, he had said --rather boldly-- a few years ago that he hadn’t wanted to do anything with the wizarding world but he was eleven for heaven’s sake! What sort of eleven-year-old would know how to navigate the world around him? No one! 

He would be fine, he knew, without magic. He was plenty smart in his studies and he was aiming rather ambitiously for his academia preferences for university, but he couldn’t ignore it. Some part of him would always be a wizard and even after those powers grew weak as his human self took over, there would always be that lingering regret. That knowledge that he knew he had the chance of a lifetime to learn from people who have titled themselves the best in their world. He wanted it. He wanted their skills as his own, to enhance his perception of this mystical world hidden in plain sight. He yearned to answer questions no human could ever even dream of even asking. What else is there in this world?

And if he was going to be bullied for it, might as well learn how to fight back with magic, right? 

Kai couldn’t wait for a second longer and he scurried upstairs, his parents’ call a muted shriek in his ears. He locked his room and still that purple-eyed owl gazed up at him and greeted him with a lethargic head roll. 

“How do I say yes?” begged Kai, his breaths came out in harsh pants. “I don’t have an owl to respond and I haven’t got any parchment. Or a quill. Or ink.” 

The owl locked eyes with him and blinked. Kai swore he could hear it call him stupid. Then the owl blinked once more as the wind picked up outside. The English clouds grew darker by the second and as the first thunder ripped, the owl tilted its head to the side. Kai followed it and saw one envelope sneakily hidden under his bed. It was a dark heavy thing, tea-stained was the only colour that popped to his mind, but instead of the red seal, it had a brazen emerald. He reached out for it, hand brushing against the rigid wax. The stamp this time was no crest, instead, it was a handsome sword with an “A” engraved in it encircled by a band reading: viri artorius. 

Carefully, he opened the envelope and a modernised quill fell out. The oddity seemed like a normal ballpoint pen he could get easily in Tesco, but the detailing in gold told him it was of much greater value. Enclosed in the envelope were fresh sheets of parchment and upon one unrolling Kai gasped. Letters, handwritten ones, started to crawl on the page. Appearing one by one as though it was written by himself. It responded to the school’s letter with acceptance then stopped momentarily after it wrote “Yours kindly,” and Kai supposed that was where he meant to sign. 

He placed the tip of the quill onto the parchment, steadied his hand. A knock then two, and soon his ears were no longer ringing. He could perfectly hear his parents’ harsh pleas to open his door. Without an inch of doubt, Kai dragged the quill downwards then up again in a letter ‘K’. With haste, he folded the parchment into a square and slipped it with the quill inside the envelope. He didn’t know what else to do and it didn’t seem like he could reseal the broken blue wax but once he closed the flap he saw it magically melt back together like brand new. The owl looked at him expectantly and Kai knew what he had to do next. 

He surged forwards, envelope in hand, and thrust the envelope to the owl.

“I know you can understand me. Please. I want to learn. I can’t be in this house anymore,” Kai whispered. The owl blinked then inched forward until it could open its beak and close it around the envelope. “Deliver this for me, please. I’m sorry I can’t pay you for anything. I’ll find a way to find you there. I promise.” 

In the next beat, the owl took off just as his parents managed to break down the locks and barge into his room. 

“Kai Kamal Huening! How many times did I have to tell you to not lock your door?” his father screamed. His arms rested on his chest which rose and fell in a staccato rhythm. He opened his mouth once more only to take a look around and register the tens of unopened envelopes in his room. “Kai…”

“You didn’t read any of these did you?” his mother questioned, a finger pointed at him to hold him in place. Kai backed himself against the wall. “Did you!” 

“No, ma.” 

His mother exhaled roughly, hands flew to her hair to fix the tangled mess. “Good,” she told him, “good. I… don’t open these. They can’t know. Alright?” 

Kai pursed his lips into a straight line and nodded. His mother stroked her chest then left the room, his father tailed after her. 

He couldn’t tell them. He had to lie. There was no other solution. If they knew what he had done he wouldn’t be let outside. He loved his parents, he knew they were doing this for his good. He wasn’t normal enough to join either world completely, but he had to decide for himself now. With how his mother reacted, it made him want to join the school even more. Why was he kept hidden all this time if it was just a bullying problem? Who are they and why can’t they know? Just what can’t they know?

If that owl was as intelligent as Kai made him out to be, he was sure he could be attending school soon enough. Now, it was just a waiting game.


	2. Snow in September

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Massive thank you to JC for once again reminding me where my plot holes were!!! Please also give her some love for Beta reading this chapter @cathswaite

It had been exactly three tumultuous days since the letters first arrived and after the second all deliveries seemed to cease. His parents were relieved they didn’t have to send out an actual formal reply because his mother worried about leaving more magical traces for the MACUSA to track her with. Life went on as normal. Or as normal as Kai’s life could get. 

They were more protective now--no, that wasn’t right. Sure, they were very on-guard about the whole situation but Kai couldn’t just pass it off as just that. His parents were restrictive. They had even limited the number of times his sisters were allowed to go outside. Kai couldn’t shake off the feeling that leaving would be the best decision he would make in his life. It could technically count as running away but Kai didn’t see it that way. If Hogwarts was just like Ilvermorny then it wouldn’t be a day school, so he’d be away for only nine months and back home before he knew it.

But every morning as he opened his eyes his first thought was always: how long would it take for them to forgive me? 

Kai wasn’t stupid; he knew his parents and how they’d react. His mother would be fuming, as would his father, and both of them would try to get him back but his mother would be a beacon for the MACUSA if she so much as stepped foot in the wizarding world’s territory. 

But if Kai spared a moment and really reflected on it, his mother had no reason to hide from the MACUSA. Sure, he was _technically_ a wizarding world runaway of sorts but she was a distinguished member before they moved from the States, one of the higher-ranked officers. He was a kid who got bullied by some mean kids who just happened to be wizards and witches. He remembered the way his mother would whiz in and out of the house and her collection of stories from her day at work, how happy she had been. He needed to step up and face the music so his mother would stop running away from her life for the sake of his and he couldn’t possibly do that here in little Chiswick. He must leave. 

On the fourth night, just as he was about to slip in bed and the entire house was mellow with silence, he heard the familiar flutter of wings. There, on his window sill, perched the purple-eyed owl. Between his beak, yet another emerald wax-sealed envelope.

Kai paused his steps and waited to see if anyone else was still wandering around the house. Satisfied with the lack of noise, he made his way to the window and sat by the owl. 

“Hello again,” he greeted. “Is this for me?” 

He opened his hands and let the owl drop the envelope into them. It was considerably lighter than the last one. Kai furrowed his brows and cracked the seal open before he reached in to pull the letter out. Instead of the unfurling letters like last time, this one was pre-written by someone else. To him. 

_Dear Kai,_

_I’ve posted your mail for you and Hogwarts has sent another one confirming your seat for this September. You do not know me yet, but you will. My name is Namjoon and I’m here to help you. I’m part of a secretive circle not many are privy to, so I do hope you will respect my choice to not tell you what it is as of now. There are more important matters._

_Enclosed is a map of central London and a few scribbles to let you know how to get to The Leaky Cauldron. There are too many things you need before you attend school and too many people to avoid. We must be able to acquire the list of school materials before you depart._

_I’m aware that your parents are not supportive of your attending Hogwarts but I trust that you can make your own decisions. For this reason, I’ve arranged a mode of transportation and accommodation up to September 1st but you must be very careful. Tonight at exactly 2300 hours a taxi will wait for you down the street. It will wait for five minutes before it drives off. You can spend the night and it will have you in central London tomorrow morning. I will meet you at the Leaky Cauldron at 0900 hours. Do not worry about anything else. I’ve got you sorted._

_Yours kindly,_

_Namjoon_

Kai blinked. Then he pulled his phone out and unlocked it. The screen lit awake and flashed the numbers ‘22:54.’ It took an embarrassing amount of time to realise he had only six minutes to pack everything he needed and somehow sneak out his house to get into a taxi that would take him-- where? He didn’t even know. His feet moved without his brain’s command, and he was on auto-pilot. He felt as though he was watching himself stuff his largest backpack. Sweater, then shirt, another pair of jeans, more underwear and socks… 

Once he had everything zipped up and then changed out of his pyjamas and into a shirt, hoodie, jeans and his Nike sneakers he checked his phone again. It was exactly 23:00 on the dot. He had five minutes to leave the house. He knew his father would occasionally walk out around this time and check on his sisters which meant that going out his door was a no. That meant he had to go out of his window and into the garden. The owl still watched him, its purple eyes almost glistening from the moonshine in the darkness of his room. 

“Can you scoot over, please?” Kai asked softly, “I need to leave.” 

The owl blinked then shuffled away. Kai whispered his gratitude and stepped one foot out onto the roof than the other. He pivoted in his spot. 

Kai peered down and saw nothing that could support him. “Now where do we go from here?” 

Some beams ran up and down the main corners of the house, one of them just next to his room, thankfully, but he feared that would make too much noise and alert his parents. There was always the option to jump straight down but Kai was not that dull to believe he would come out unscathed. There was one final thing… 

Kai eyed the stepladder that rested on their fence. The boy brought his two arms up and focused his entire mind into lifting the stepladder. He inhaled, then almost forcefully he hissed, “Accio stepladder.” 

The stepladder flew across the garden and halted right below the roof at which he stood on. The boy checked his phone again; he had three minutes left before the taxi would leave and he knew it. He walked up to the edge of the roof, just as it started to slant down, and crouched until his foot reached the first step of the ladder. With one last look at the owl, Kai slid all the way down and landed softly on the ground. He did one quick spell, arms out and chanted, “Wingardium Leviosa” and the ladder lifted until it went back to its place by the fence. 

He didn’t have much time left. He went through the side that had no windows because he knew his mother might be up late and go down for a snack. Once he made it past the bushes, Kai sped up and ran down the street. There, a black cab waited. He reached it with no hassle and got in the back seat. It was a more luxurious car, not some shanty Uber that Kai had been expecting. It had plush red seats and a minifridge tucked under the seats and everything. 

“Hi, sorry I’m late. Um, is this for central--” Kai started then stopped. There was no one in the driver’s seat. He stuck his head through the gap between the two front seats. No one, not a single magical creature either. The clock on the dashboard flashed 2305, the gas pedal descended, and Kai felt the car shift into gear before it went on its way, him in it. 

He tried to get out, but nothing seemed to work. All the locks were either bolted down so tight or… _magic,_ Kai’s mind supplied. Of course it was. It had to be. Kai turned in his seat and watched the house he knew diminish in the background. He wasn’t sure if he actually caught sight of that purple-eyed owl, but he swore he saw something fly into the moon. Kai let himself sink back into the seats and find them to be nearly as comfortable as his bed. And before he realised it, he was fast asleep. 

Kai had only been to central London a handful of times. _There were too many people_ , his mother used to chastise whenever he asked her to go. And true to her word, there were. London was such a busy, busy place. Everywhere he looked seemed to be a new crowd of people but they all blended seamlessly into an ocean of people just trying to get on with their own lives. The taxi ride had somehow kept him asleep the entire night yet was still roaming around London, not yet arriving at this “Leaky Cauldron” as Namjoon called it. 

Namjoon. Kai wondered what kind of person Namjoon would be. In hindsight, he really should’ve thought twice before he jumped into a taxi after a stranger told him to get into one. But surely, no ordinary person could have their hands on such a majestic stamp? That vira artorius band kept him wondering. It was no stamp he had ever seen in the wizarding world before. Back when he was younger, his mother would get letters on the daily, each with their little wax seal. There were rubies and navies and pinks galore, but never an emerald one. 

Was he an adult? Was he a teenager like Kai? No, definitely not. No teenage boy would do something this elaborate. None of his wizarding peers, he knew, could have the power to muster such a spell on the taxi. 

They drove past what Kai knew was the Monument to the Great Fire of London. Again, the people bustled about. He saw a Superdrug and its weird comic sans-like titling, then a horde of trucks passed by before the taxi stopped. Outside was the entry to a grand shopping arcade; above it, a huge engraving read ‘Leadenhall Market.’

Kai shrugged his backpack on and halted. 

“Thanks?” he said to the air. 

Nothing replied and he cursed himself for thinking otherwise before he stepped off the taxi. The car went on like normal, then, just as it was about to make a right turn, it disappeared into thin air. 

He really should get used to all of this, Kai noted. He was about to embark in a whole new journey into a new world with new cultures and he knew if he chose to do as his father had and not assimilate he wouldn’t survive. It was such a basic instinct, even his generic biology textbook covered it in “Chapter 15: Ecology”. 

“Right… where was that map?” he murmured once he was well out of the way of busy strangers. 

Namjoon got one thing right. These were in fact scribbles. Kai tried his best to not immediately judge Namjoon as the letter indicated a person with great conviction and intellect but as Kai scanned the map he couldn’t help but think that a three-year-old with a set of crayons could point him in a better direction. He couldn’t even read his handwriting! 

Kai checked his phone, it was a quarter to nine. He had fifteen minutes to decipher where Namjoon wanted him to be and he knew he couldn’t possibly make sense of the map. With a few clicks, the boy had Google Maps opened. 

“Let’s see, where did he want me to go… The Bootlegger… okay,” he whispered to himself then typed the address in. Soon enough the map loaded and pointed him correctly where he needed to go. He peered down and saw it was a three-minute walk. Piece of cake. 

The map told him to head straight down then take a right. From the looks of it, The Bootlegger was a regular pub. He saw the old men smoking outside, chattering amongst themselves. If he edged his head a little he could even make out the different taps by the bar. Would he even be allowed to go into the pub? What if they kicked him out and Namjoon couldn’t find him? What would he do then? He only had enough money to get himself to Chiswick, maybe not enough to even reach his house. God, this was so stupid! How could he even think this would work--

“Kai?” 

It was a deep voice, he noted first. Strong, almost authoritative but not demanding. Gravelly. Like a voice one could make endless speeches with. The boy breathed in then with one swift movement faced the man. 

Honestly, Kai didn’t know what else he expected. Namjoon was just as he pictured. Well, maybe not exactly. But no one would look at him and think he would look anything else. The man was only a few inches taller than himself, he had high cheekbones that made for really deep dimples by the corners of his mouth. He dressed as though he were a businessman on a lunch break but upon closer inspection, Kai noticed that the suit was not an ordinary one. There were little intricate details that screamed magic, like the glowing shoulder lapels and the rune-like vines that moved on his tie. Lastly, Namjon had a wide, curious set of deep violet eyes and a head of perfectly coiffed amethyst hair to match it. That was odd. Kai kept his gaze and as Namjoon blinked he felt an unsettling wave of familiarity fill him. 

“I’m sorry,” he said instead. “That was rude. Yes. And you are?” 

Kai knew but he just wanted to make sure this stranger wasn’t someone actively scamming him. He had made up his mind in the taxi ride that this was highly unlikely to be a huge elaborate trick played by a hacker of some sort. This had elements of magic that he could feel. 

The man smiled then for a second his eyes widened. “Kim Namjoon. Call me Namjoon. I’d like to apologise for the rushed exit yesterday. I could only set it at a certain time and nothing else because Merlin knows what would happen if someone had seen me charm a car in broad daylight. Sorry, again, for my language. It’s been a stressful few days.”

“No, it’s okay… and The Bootlegger? That’s a pub right?”

“The…” Namjoon trailed off then his eyes drowned in recognition. “Oh right! Yes, but you see… it’s not just any kind of pub. Let’s just say… it’s a pub of our kind.”

Kai couldn’t decide whether he liked that or not. Our. But he kept his mouth shut and nodded along as Namjoon went on to ask him about his trip and other small talk. Then Kai paused.

“Namjoon,” he asked, “how did you know me? How did you know Hogwarts was going to find me? And why now?”

Namjoon’s crescent eyes became hooded and they quickly darted around. His voice deepened until it was just above a whisper. “Let’s not talk out here. It’s not safe. Come inside the pub and I’ll tell you when we cross.”

“Cross?”

But before he could get a reply Namjoon already entered the pub. Kai cursed, he wasn’t legally allowed to be in a pub. Bypassing the old men, Kai slipped in just as the door was about to shut. Namjoon was talking to a fierce-looking woman who Kai thought to be the bouncer. 

“The kid’s with me,” Namjoon said. “We’re just going to cross.”

The woman’s sharp eyes pinned him down but with a tug of her lip, she handed Namjoon back a brown wallet and let them through. Just as he expected, The Bootlegger had no real distinction that screamed it was anything out of the ordinary. The prices were the same, the pint glasses were side by side on the same rack, and they too had a disappointing choice of beers on tap. 

His father loved pubs, that was one of the few things he let himself seldom enjoy once they moved here. He often took Kai with him for lunch if he got back early enough since he knew the boy seldom left the house and would most definitely go stir crazy should it continue. 

Namjoon led him through the back, past a table of particularly rowdy middle-aged women each with a pint of cider in their hands, then right out into something that perhaps used to be for storage. It was a square little area with brick walls that separated this lot from its neighbours. Kai swept his gaze around it and stepped closer to Namjoon when he saw the black cat rummaging through the bins. 

“Namjoon, why are we at the back?” 

The man in question patted down his sparkly blazer then his trousers. “For Merlin’s sake…I swear I put it in my pocket… where’s that smarmy thing…”

They spent the next few minutes doing this until Namjoon creased the bridge of his nose and huffed, “ Accio wand.” 

As the stepladder did for him last night, Namjoon’s wand--this light, sturdy-looking stick--wisped right out of his blazer’s inner right pocket and straight into his waiting hands. 

“Sometimes,” Namjoon fixed him a look as he started, “I forget I have the magic to use. I like the reminder that some strive without magic.” 

Kai wasn’t exactly sure if he could answer that. He didn’t think it was even anything but philosophical rhetoric. And even if it weren’t, it wasn’t as though he had enough knowledge or experience to share his two cents. The boy nodded and followed Namjoon to face the brick wall silently. The masonry was worn down, and like most things in England, the wall looked to have survived a few wars. 

Namjoon raised his wand to one of the tiles in the centre then tapped it lightly. As with all things magic, each tap sent out sparks that danced like a mini firework show. He drew out a diamond shape then suddenly the tiles shifted, each one pushed against the other until the wall separated and formed an archway revealing an arcade, a cobbled street that went straight into a row of colourful shops of all shapes and sizes. 

This was no shopping centre, he knew. There were families dithered about, each member with a similar stick in their hands--a wand. Some of them even carried caged owls or even rats! It was no less busy than London outside the pub, he decided after he saw a swarm of teenage girls rush into a bookstore. 

“What’s all this, Namjoon?” Kai whispered, endlessly enchanted by the displays of this new world. 

Namjoon sent him a smile. “Welcome to Diagon Alley, the place for every witch and wizard’s needs. It’s unsurprisingly busy since it’s two weeks until Hogwarts term starts again. I guess everyone’s trying to finish their back-to-school shop before they’ll have to catch the train down at King’s Cross.”

“What, like at a platform with all the other trains and stuff?”

“No,” Namjoon laughed. “There’s… another way to get in, but I’ll show you when the time comes. Now, let’s get going. There are things we need to get sorted. What’s first… right! Your wand. Why haven’t you got a wand, by the way? You seem…”

“I seem?” 

Namjoon bit his lip and his eyes were downcast as though he were thinking then he beamed up at Kai. “Nothing. Have you never had a wand in your life?”

“No…”

“Have you ever been to a wizarding school?” the man prompted as they made their way down the arcade. Left and right were whimsical shops exploding with colour as though their main target had been children, but as Kai turned to face Namjoon and the ridiculously shiny suit the man wore, he decided that maybe this was just what wizards were like.

Kai forced his eyes as wide as they could open to take it all in, mind buzzing with excitement yet still holding the conversation so he didn’t look like a prick. A redhead lady rushed past them, yelling out for her son (equally redheaded) to wait for her. His sisters used to cause the same mayhem when they first moved to England. Kai swallowed the lump in his throat. 

Kai replied, “Yes, but in Ilvermorny they don’t really teach practical stuff until the next year and even then wand-picking was done in school. Like the dorm sorting and...stuff…”

Namjoon let out another one of his hearty laughs and a quick flash of his widening purple eyes. “I see. Are any of your parents magic?”

“My mum’s a witch.”

“Ah. Any siblings?”

“Two sisters,” Kai hummed. “Both younger than me.”

Namjoon clicked his tongue as they passed a gigantic candy shop with crazy orange stripes and a massive bobble-head that sprung out of its roof. “I also have a younger sister. Are they a nightmare? Mine is. She used to steal my snacks ALL the time.”

“Sometimes, yeah, ha-ha. They’re not old enough to know where I hide them, though.” Kai trailed off, his voice drowned in the sea of sudden screeches as a pack of boys burst out from the said shop. There was a beat of silence after they were shooed off by this gangly old man dressed in stripes from his hat to his boots who Kai assumed was the storekeeper. 

“Don’t worry,” Namjoon said softly after. “I’m sure they’ll miss you as much as you miss them.”

“Yeah…”

“Earlier you mentioned your mother was a witch, what exactly does she do?”

Kai fiddled with the sleeves of his jacket. “She used to work for like… the Ministry, but she’s just a stay-at-home mum now. My tutor, too.”

“Oh? What happened?” 

Kai wanted to brush it off, maybe say a flippant comment, but when he finally tore his eyes away from the herd of customers up and down the street he caught Namjoon’s unyielding gaze. For a quick moment, Kai swore his purple eyes gleamed. 

“Not too sure,” Kai mumbled, scratching the nape of his neck. “She didn’t really want me to be back in the wizarding world after my first few months in Ilvermorny.”

Kai could hear Namjoon mutter something under his breath, something that sounded much like “peculiar” but he didn’t question it. Instead, he kept his eyes straight on the street, his heart beating faster than a thunderbird. 

“Ah, here we are!” Namjoon announced as they stopped in front of a maroon shop. The marquee read ‘Ollivanders’ and he could hardly see past the wands galore in the window showcase. Namjoon spread his arms out as though he were waiting for Kai to step in first and without another moment’s hesitance, he did. 

The bell above the doorway chimed. “Just a second!” a croaky voice called out. 

“No one does it like Ollivanders. Not a wizard or witch in this world with a misplaced wand,” Namjoon gushed. Just then, an elderly man tumbled into the room from the side hallway that appeared to run endlessly eastwards. He was a tiny man, much shorter than both Kai and Namjoon, and his hair had gone greyer than the skies that blanketed most of England daily. There was a fine twitch by his eye as his lips curled upwards at the sight of the two of them. 

“Oh Mr Kim,” he gasped, “to what honour do I owe your visit today?”

Namjoon barked out a laugh, his eyes disappeared into crescent hoods above his cheeks. “Oh, Garrick, please. There’s no need. I’m here to help a friend out.”

“A friend?”

Garrick’s eyes shifted from the man to him and Kai felt as though he were five again. There was something so all-encompassing in the shopkeeper, a wisp to him that made you think he could tell you your past, present, and future with a flick of his wand. Garrick’s lips thinned momentarily. 

“Ah yes. Young man, how awfully rude of me. Please, please. Come forward. This is your first time getting a wand, yes?”

“Erm. Yeah.”

“And how old are you?”

“Fifteen, sir,” Kai gulped as Garrick beckoned him to come even closer until the edge of the counter was practically nestled between his third and fourth rib. Garrick hummed then he sauntered back into the little corridor lined with shelves upon shelves of long wooden boxes. 

“A bit odd for you to send me a much… older candidate, Mr Kim,” Garrick singsonged from where he stood to rummage through the boxes. Namjoon cleared his throat behind him. 

“I believe in the cause, Garrick. But you should do well to remember that not all wizarding families give children wands until they’re seen as capable.”

“Yes, yes,” Garrick muttered as he stalked back, three boxes in his hands all in different colours. “I dare not call myself an experienced wand-maker if I had such prejudices. I was just commenting, that was all.”

The three boxes were displayed in front of him like offerings... Garrick removed a maroon cover and revealed a gorgeous ebony wand. Its lustrous black body glimmered under the dim light of the shop. 

“Give it a whirl then, lad,” Garrick encouraged. “Go on.”

Kai picked the wand up and brought it down in one swift motion. The light flickered but nothing more. Garrick furrowed his brows. 

“I guess not. Try this one.” 

It was a light wood this time, Kai couldn’t place a name off the top of his head but it was smoother than the previous wand and felt much easier on the hand. With a flick, he sent the vase flying. Garrick winced when he heard the shatter, but continued to unbox the last one unperturbed. 

The shopkeeper paused. “Now this one… there have only been a few to successfully wield such a wand. It’s made of larch, which means it is naturally a trickier wand to master but those who do possess great potential. I’ve never seen a larch wand-wielder who isn't talented, and if Mr Kim believes in you then I do not see why you should not be able to find a perfect mate in it.”

“How would I know?” Kai blurted. “I’ve never even held a wand before.”

“You’ll know,” Garrick reassured then handed him the strong warm-toned wand. 

Kai closed his eyes and he could feel it. Magic pulsated within the column of the wood, reaching out to his magic. His wrist moved on its own accord and Kai saw, in his head, a snowy field. 

“Oh wow.”

He opened his eyes and saw there were flakes of snow that danced down the ceiling and onto his palm. Garrick stood there, stunned. Namjoon watched the snowfall then pulled his wand out and called, “Finite incantatem,” and at once the snowfall seized. 

Garrick gulped. But Kai was quicker to stutter out an apology. “I’m sorry. Your shop is all wet now because of me, I don’t think this is the right wand--”

“No!” Garrick yelled, eyes wide and manic. “You… you own a gift. Of what we are not sure yet, but in time with this wand… you’ll be the brightest young wizard of your generation. I’m sure of it.”

Kai accepted the wand and looked back at Namjoon who calmly fished out his wallet. He passed Garrick a few coins before he placed a hand on Kai’s shoulder and nodded at the shopkeeper. 

“Thank you, Garrick. You’re a real help.”

“Oh, no problem, Mr Kim,” Garrick called out after them as they stepped out. “No problem at all!”

Kai couldn’t help but feel the gravity of the twig in his hands. It was beautifully carved; a knob sat atop the hand rest and if he bent down and focused a tad bit more he could make out fine outlines of a bear and next to it, a soldier. The crowds had somewhat dissipated into a calmer mob, unlike the big rush that was this morning. 

The teenagers in this… world weren’t all that different from the ones that the mundane world had. They had little friendship groups, Kai saw one chattering about by the massive candy store further down the street, and were probably burdened by schoolwork. They just happened to have magic. 

“Was that normal?” Kai asked once they were further away.

Namjoon chewed on his lip and kept searching for what Kai assumed would be the next stop to their shop. “No. But this is fine. None of this is normal and we’re fine. See? Look, made it to Borgin and Burke’s safe and sound… let’s get your books…”

As time went on and they acquired more and more school supplies, including a whole stationery set--a whole quill and ink too!-- Kai felt worse and worse. He was roaming around with a stranger who knew where he lived, his name, and even got him to come out of his house to a whole other city to meet him. Where was his common sense last night? Why hadn’t he just said no?

“Well, you’re awfully quiet,” Namjoon quipped, bringing him back to reality. 

“What? Oh. Well, it’s not like you’d answer any of my questions anyway.”

Namjoon winced, as though Kai had just slapped him, then juggled a few of Kai’s school books between his arms. “Look, I’m sorry… I really can’t risk it here. There are too many ears. We’re nearly there though, I’ll tell you everything.”

“Nearly where?” 

Then the man stopped and Kai had to halt his steps too. They reached a crossroad, one led back to the Bootlegger or the Leaky Cauldron then the other down a dark alley with black trinkets sticking out of each shop. The hairs on his neck straightened and Kai knew this was not a place anyone would want to go. 

“Kai,” Namjoon commanded, “stay very close to me and do not stray.”

Kai gulped. “Okay.”

Together they took the left and Kai found himself shadowed by an overcoming sense of terror and anxiety. There were shops all the way down this alley as well, but they weren’t ones you were welcome to come in. Kai shuffled closer as they neared a scraggly man hobbling down the street, who had nails that reached his knees. Namjoon kept his head straight and marched down the path, Kai wished he could be as brave. Overtaking a trio of whining witches, Namjoon steered them off the main street and into a smaller alleyway that squeezed smaller and smaller and Kai brought his shoulders as tightly inwards as they could but he still felt crushed. 

“Namjoon,” he wheezed.

“Just a bit more.”

Before he knew it, all the air rushed back into his lungs and a white flash forced his eyes shut. When he came to, they were in a cosy living room in front of an ornate fireplace. Namjoon dumped the books on a leather armchair and plopped down on the matching sofa. 

“I’m never doing that again,” he grunted.

Kai placed the other shopping bags on the lushly carpeted floor and the remainders on top of the wooden coffee table. He took another look around and whistled. “Is this your house?”

“Yep,” Namjoon exclaimed before he jumped up. “It’s all mine, alright. Hidden and soundproof. Nothing can get in or out without my senses tingling. Can I get you something to drink? A coffee? Tea?”

“Um, water will do. Thanks.”

“Sure.” Namjoon left and headed towards the kitchen, which Kai now saw was more of a kitchenette that had a small bar built into its wall serving as a dining table. 

Namjoon’s place resembled more of a flat than a proper house. For one, every unit of this space seemed like a miniature of the original. The kitchen was an example, the seating room slash TV room was another, but instead of giving the impression of a cramped abode, Kai felt rather cosy. For the first time in a while, he felt strangely comforted. The fireplace lit then and he picked up the soft, mellow strings of a violin. 

“It’s strange,” Namjoon recounted as he placed the ornate kettle on the hob. Kai searched around the flat for a radio but he found a violin suspended mid-air playing itself instead. He fought down the urge to gape and fixated his focus on Namjoon instead. “Your parents have yet to spare you a call. You have a mobile phone in your possession, yes?” 

“Yes… but it’s a Sunday. It’s usually a slow morning. No one is ever truly up until eleven in my house,” Kai recalled. 

Namjoon hummed as did the kettle and he sauntered over to the hob, with a click of his fingers the fire went out and he poured the hot water into a dainty teacup that fit more an older lady residing in the countryside than he. 

“I see,” Namjoon continued, “though I’m sure you are at your limit today. My responsibility is to extinguish your… anxieties. Though, I’m not too sure where to start. Is there a question that has burdened your mind the most?”

Kai chewed on his lip. From the corner of his vision, he saw Namjoon stir a teaspoon of sugar into his cup. The man blew on his tea then cradled it and its saucer to his chest before he joined him in an armchair just opposite. 

Was there a specific question he wanted to be answered? There were too many buzzing in his head to keep count of the ones that truly mattered, though he supposed all of them did. Kai tried to focus on one, but amidst his little mental exercise, he stumbled upon a revelation:if he knew how to play Namjoon well, he could have all the answers he wanted confirmed. Kai could end the itch of his curiosity within the hour, he just had to be smart. 

He couldn’t possibly ask a question too brash. No, that would be impulsive. 

“Yes. I am a wizard,” he decided to say, “But do Hogwarts even do transfer students?”

Namjoon blinked mid-sip and he brought the cup down to his lap. “Well, yes. Many did after a certain Mr Potter came to finish his studies after the Second Wizarding War -- are you familiar with our history?”

“Not precisely, but I’ve heard tales.”

“Tales are just tales, child,” Namjoon chastised. “It would do you well to enrich yourself in knowledge once you step into Hogwarts. Is that all?”

“No. Err. I’ve never met anyone else who transferred but I sure as hell know that neither of those students, transferring or otherwise, had some mysterious all-knowing owl watching over them while they sign their response letter.”

“Owls are just the messengers of the wizarding world. Surely, your mother would’ve taught you that,” Namjoon dismissed him. Kai bristled. 

“My mother has spent the last few years teaching me things no other wizarding school could ever do, _Mr Kim_. And I know what I saw. The owl was not one that delivered the Hogwarts letters. He brought parchment… and a quill… like he knew I was going to agree to the school’s enrollment.”

“And do you not?” Namjoon asked, hooded eyes boring into the fireplace. 

Kai sank back in his chair. “I do. I’m just… I don’t know what’s going on and I hate it. I cannot sit in the dark forever, Namjoon. How did you find me? Why didn’t my mother want me to go?”

With a strong inhale, Namjoon propped himself up and bent forwards to place his cup of tea on the coffee table. He rested his back and locked eyes with Kai. The boy suppressed a shiver that crawled down his spine. Like this, Namjoon was very much different from the man he met in front of The Bootlegger. There was a veil of intimidation around him, as though a lift of the man’s finger could trump Kai’s very being. He didn’t want to show that he was scared, but deep down Kai knew that even that was expecting too much of himself. 

He was very much terrified. He had just walked into a stranger’s home, ran away from his parents without even a single note, and now he was alone with said stranger and unknowing of his true nature. Namjoon released a sigh and Kai thought to himself what he would do to have his mother here with him. 

“Alright. I’ve let you riddle your mind enough,” the man muttered. “If you must know the story, feel free to listen. But I do warn you, it is a long one and it isn’t the kind of story you wish you believed in.”

“I have time,” Kai whispered. 

Namjoon gave him one last look, shrugged, then bent to sip his tea. Above the fireplace, the clock struck ten and Kai sat upright in his seat, ready. 


	3. The Prophecy

“When I was a boy, my father was very strict regarding our beliefs. He made sure that neither I nor my sister would ever stray far from the path of wizardry because you see, marrying a human back then was… unspeakable. With what happened in the Americas… witches being burned at the stake and stoned to death and witch hunters everywhere, the International Confederation of Wizards--akin to the muggle's United Nations--thought it so reckless to fraternise with humans that they signed a law called the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy. Anyone that had any relations with the human world would risk their community being punished under the Higher Orders.”

“The Higher Orders?” Kai asked. Namjoon gulped. 

“A selective and reclusive group of people who make sure that the wool is pulled over the humans’ eyes… make sure the wizarding world is concealed and hidden for their safety. This is why when things started to modernise and people found muggle-borns and half-bloods to be born it caused a riot. To this day, some of the purest families still hold onto those outdated values… of anyone other than a pureblood being lesser to them.”

Kai mulled this over, and a sharp pain stabbed him in the chest as he recalled his memories with such slurs. “So, basically… there is oppression within the wizarding world. That doesn’t sound all too different from the human world. I mean, we have terrorists and wars and murders on the weekly. I faced my fair share of bullying when I went to Ilvermorny.”

“Children can sometimes be so very barbaric,” Namjoon whispered under his breath but Kai was quick enough to catch it. “By the time Harry Potter--you do know him, yes?”

“I think so?”

Namjoon rubbed his temple before he resumed, “Well. Harry Potter defeated a dark wizard while I was training to be an auror-- that’s basically… like wizard police.”

“Gotcha. Do you also have a badge?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Of course I have a badge. Anyway. I was just about to be employed by the Ministry of Magic, here in England, due to my efforts within the East Asian wizarding community. That was when I heard whispers of you. Your family. You see, as the West began to slowly move on from the blood-hatred, we Asians still clung onto it. It is rare to find an impure family in Asia, Kai. I tell you this because I’ve tried. The reason why my mother supported my move to England was that she had hoped I would make myself a husband to an English witch and widen our blood pool.”

“And have you?”

Namjoon snorted. “Does it look like I have a partner?”

Kai cleared his throat while Namjoon scoffed out of amusement. “As I was saying, I started to hear rumours around your name. Your family was one of the ten notable families, alongside my own. We date back centuries upon centuries of the ratified alliance of Korean families honouring the Statute of Secrecy. They were very proud of their youngest daughter, Woojin,” at this Kai sucked in a breath, “for making her name in MACUSA. You’re familiar with that name, yes?”

Kai exhaled shakily. “Yes.”

“They said it was about time their family brought back its lustre. To their surprise, your mother was besotted with a human. They tried everything, even reaching out to my parents and asking me to  _ fetch  _ your mother home as if… she was some kind of rabid animal. I disagreed, of course. That threw a wedge between my familial ties, but at least I had not been cut off from my family entirely. Woojin, your mother, was not spared the same mercy.”

“You mean they threw her away? Just like that?”

Namjoon went to take another sip of his tea. “You have to understand, Kai. These are some very old, very shared ideologies. It is difficult to shift even one person’s belief, much less the whole pack.”

“So do you share the sentiment, then? If that’s true, do you still believe in impure wizards?”

A tense silence invaded the room and Kai kept his gaze firmly locked onto the man. Namjoon had nowhere to move but he stood his ground and met the boy’s eyes evenly.

“I do not. However, you have to realise that these deep-rooted beliefs are from fear of producing half-bloods or, Merlin forbid it, a squib.”

“A squib?” Kai asked. He furrowed his brows. “What’s that?”

Namjoon sighed and crossed his legs. The fire crackled away. “It’s someone born into a wizarding family who cannot perform magic, not even the most basic spells.”

“But that’s fine, right? Like, humans can get... I don’t know...disabilities, too. That’s nothing to be ashamed of,” Kai insisted. Namjoon avoided his gaze.

“I know,” he said softly, “but the old families believed it to be worse than a disability. They thought it was a curse befallen on the whole family. 

“So, by the time I settled in England and started my new assignments, I had opportunities to link back and forth to MACUSA and worked with your mother a couple of times before I was assigned...other duties. Woojin was a lovely woman, then one day she ran. I didn’t know what to make of it. That was until I heard the news from back home. 

“An old sorceress, one who dictates most if not all of the Asian wizarding community, passed away. The last thing she wrote was received rather sourly.”

“What was it?” Kai insisted, inching off his seat. 

Namjoon furrowed his brows before he stood up and set off towards the windows. Kai turned in his seat, ever curious, and saw Namjoon reach into a vase on the floor just below the windowsill and out came a crumpled piece of paper. He unfolded it as he returned. 

“Let’s see,” Namjoon muttered, “right. She said, err...

_ Cloudy skies ahead _

_ When the youngest is stolen, not dead. _

_ He shall rise, not fall to the lure _

_ Of old families who cast the impure.  _

_ Toil the soil till he is ready, _

_ For the darkest wizard driven by envy. _

_ Child of night, child of day  _

_ Awaken he who banished old evil as hearsay.  _

“It’s a prophecy,” Namjoon commented after. 

Kai scoffed. “How would I even know there’s any credibility to this? You said an old person wrote this, right? Some people have dementia.”

In seconds, Namjoon had his arms magically bound to the armchair and, before he knew it, the chair was floating midair. Kai struggled against the restrain and found it just as tough as if he had a rope bound around him. He kicked his legs, but found no leverage to lower himself with. 

When Namjoon finally spoke, his voice was much deeper than Kai had ever heard it be and his eyes blazed magenta. 

“I know your parents kept you secluded and that wasn’t your fault, but would it hurt to not be arrogant towards other cultures? Your  _ own  _ , especially? Sorceress Xia Liu was a seer, which meant she could conjure fragments of the future and has since then been acting as a guide for the Asian wizarding world. Did you know it was her who advised everyone in the community to avoid England decades before the Second Wizarding War took place? She was the greatest witch of her time. If you dare badmouth her again, I will simply apparate you back to your home where you can continue your life as you planned and be completely oblivious to this one. Understood?”

“Yes, sir,” Kai whispered. 

Namjoon’s fiery amethyst eyes burned a second longer before the chair--and him-- were brought back down and Kai shuffled his feet on the floorboards, the weight on his shoulders immediately relieved. Namjoon turned his attention to the piece of paper, his fingers gently caressing the edges. 

“I’ve spent years trying to figure it out. I know it’s a warning, that’s for sure. Cloudy skies? Darkest wizard? Both checked. She’s warning that there is great evil rising among us, one who I think has been cast away hence the _ impure  _ part. But someone was born to restore that balance, he’s a wizard who… this I have a hard time understanding... was  _ stolen  _ ? Honestly, I wouldn’t put it past the pure families. And  _ toil the soil  _ until he is ready basically means we have to train him to be a bright wizard so he could defeat it. Something about awakening a sorcerer, but wizards rarely dip into necromancy so that might be metaphorical...” Namjoon concluded after a while.

“Why me? What have I got to do with this… prophecy, as you called it? And who is this…  _ they  _ you keep speaking of?” Kai stuttered. 

Namjoon folded the paper and returned it to the vase. “I meant your extended family.  _ He shall rise not fall to the lure of old families who cast the impure _ ? Old families! The purebloods in Asia are some of the oldest I’ve known to date, and between both of us, most have done their fair share of cutting off half-bloods or muggle-borns. Woojin’s parents were known to be in the top five families before she ran away, I have my doubts but if I’m correct, they’ve been trying to track her down ever since. I wouldn’t even be surprised if they asked MACUSA to find Woojin since power works in mysterious ways. And the lure? They’re trying their hardest to get their hands on you as revenge for your mother’s betrayal of them. Or, I fear, for something worse. ”

“Right,” Kai stammered, “but I can’t possibly be the wizard the passage is talking about! It says the youngest was stolen, right? I’m not the youngest of my family. I’m the eldest of three! And my extended family, why are they trying to reach us now when they were the ones who cut off my mum?”

Namjoon seemed to be sipping from an empty cup, but Kai dared not comment. The man appeared frazzled beyond his limit and Kai wished there was just some book he could open that explained this whole ordeal because he didn’t think he could stand even another moment of this. 

“Maybe it wasn’t directly describing you. It might be your mother. She is the youngest of two. Stolen might refer to her marriage with your father, a muggle. In a way, she was stolen from the wizarding world because that meant a wizard outcast, a wizard down. Dead because her family cut ties with her. And her son, you, could rise and defeat this… malevolence that threatened Xia Liu and so threatens us all.”

Kai dropped his head in his hand. It felt so heavy--all this new information dragged him down and he felt himself slowly losing grip on his control. Already, he could sense the tingling sensation of magic reaching the surface of his skin, just a few seconds away from escaping. 

“So what does this mean for me?” he mumbled weakly. 

Kai heard footsteps, then he saw the tip of Namjoon’s hazel derby shoe before it pivoted and Namjoon sat down on the couch by his side. A warm hand squeezed his shoulder.

“It means you get to go to Hogwarts, as is your birth given right to attend a magical educational institution. There, you can live your life as a normal student, and you can harness power you have never known before. You learn to control your magic, and see what it means to be a wizard.”

It sounded too easy to be true. Kai was no veteran of the struggle, but he knew that the second he cried that day he came home from Ilvermorny his mother had done all she could to protect him. Something didn’t feel right. 

“But… my mother-- how did Hogwarts find me? My mother made sure that I would not exist within this world… not after--”

“Ilvermorny, yes,” Namjoon supplied. “Hogwarts’ way of enrolment has been fine-tuned to perfection over the last few centuries. There lay a book… deep within the castle and a charming quill which writes all magically-abled children’s names who are born in Great Britain and Ireland. I can only assume that said quill has printed your name unto the parchment which sent your acceptance letter home.”

“But I wasn’t born here,” Kai stressed. 

“That may be so. But you, Kai, like Ollivander said… possess a unique power. One that we have yet to see. Maybe the quill had picked your presence up and wrote you down. The delay of your letter, of course, would be the board of the school discussing whether to accept you or not. And now, we see their verdict.”

The world spun around him. Kai gripped the plush armrest to steady himself. It barely worked. “And what about that owl? I was visited by this owl with purple eyes and he had a quill with him and parchment for me to write… it was as if someone was expecting me. And you! You know that owl, but I’ve never seen it in your flat. Where is he? How come you’ve sent your letter through him?”

Namjoon exhaled through his nose, and he clasped his hands on his lap. “Kai, I am the owl.”

“You’re the what?”

“I’m the owl,” Namjoon sighed then he faced the boy and shone his purple eyes. “I’m what you call an animagus. I can transform into an animal and transform back into a humanoid form. I saw the owls change wind as I was doing my routine patrol around Chiswick and I saw you and that was how I knew.”

“So you were stalking me?” Kai shrieked, standing up. Namjoon followed suit, both his hands ready to reach out.

“No, Kai. Please listen to me. I’ve been searching for this wizard in prophecy and keeping tabs on your family for a while, but I have never crossed my line. I only knew where you moved and that was it. Your mother needed to never see me as I was, because we were great friends then.”

“What happened?”

Namjoon smiled at him, but his eyes went askew after the glow in his eyes faded. The man cleared his throat and rubbed off some invisible dirt on his thigh. “That’s a story for another time.”

Kai forced his eyes shut and inhaled deeply. “Fine. If I go… to Hogwarts because there’s a prophecy that  _ hints  _ that I’m this hero born to save the wizarding world from some villain by training my magic away from my family because my  _ extended _ family is  _ hunting _ me down what then? What comes after?”

A beat of silence passed them and Namjoon was still sitting in his chair, looking down when Kai finished. Kai clicked his tongue and threw his gaze elsewhere. He focused on the grand fireplace and the picture frames which decorated its top. He wasn’t new to the moving photography, his mother used to show him photos of when he and his sisters were little. One frame caught his eyes more than the rest. It was a photo of his mother and Namjoon, in it they were laughing their heads out of the streamer-decorated frame and back again in an endless loop. He slouched back into his chair. If he had given Namjoon the benefit of the doubt this far, he could go a few inches further and believe the prophecy.

“After that,” Namjoon faltered. The man tapped his knee then looked up. “We’ll play it by ear. By then, you’d have learned so many new things, we’d be more than prepared. 

“I know what it’s like to live with those traditional families and I’d do anything to stop that from happening to anyone else. Especially if all they want is to coach you on beating… this evil so they could claim title and prestige over everyone else.”

“What do I say to my parents?” 

Namjoon winced when Kai’s phone rang right as the clock struck eleven in the morning. They eyed the phone that buzzed. 

“Apologise. Tell them that you are okay and that you will be attending Hogwarts earlier than expected. Tell your mother that you’ll come home for the holidays. She’s hiding from her family, which means she can’t risk coming close to any magical property or her presence will be recorded.”

Kai gulped before he picked up the phone. “Hello?”

“Kai Kamal Huening!” his mother’s hysterical cry was heard. “Who do you think you are? Where are you!” 

“Ma,” Kai started, “ma, please listen to me.”

“Come home right now or I swear to God!” 

Even Namjoon grimaced at that. Kai strengthened himself. He had to do this. His mother would be furious, but this was his one chance to immerse himself in the wizarding world and its knowledge. After all, that was what he came for. 

“Ma, no. I can’t. Please… listen to me. I’m okay. I’m safe. The headmistress decided to ask me to come early, so she transported me here. Says something to do with induction. But I’m fine, ma. I’m sorry I didn’t say goodbye, but you wouldn’t let me go otherwise and I need to see this at least once. I deserve a second chance, don’t I?”

Silence met him. Kai took in another shaky breath before he resumed. “I’ll be home for Christmas, ma. But I have to go now, okay? I’m sorry…” 

Once he hung up, Namjoon gave him another firm squeeze. “It’ll be okay. She’ll forgive you.”

Kai could only hope. 

“Namjoon,” Kai asked once he could find his voice. Namjoon was already at the kitchen, cleaning up his tea set. “What do I do now? I mean, Hogwarts won’t start until the first of September, and that’s a good two weeks away.”

Namjoon poked his tongue inside his cheek. “Hm. Well, I could always teach you a couple of things I remember to be fundamental in wizardry if you’d like? So long as you have not learned them before.”

And why hadn’t Kai thought of this? Here was a perfectly able wizard who, Kai knew, was beyond his skill and one who could potentially tutor him before he started school. The boy bounced into the kitchen.

“Will you actually?” he pleaded. 

Namjoon laughed and clapped Kai’s back. “Yes, Kai. I’ll gladly teach you.”

For the next seven days, Namjoon taught him basic charms, most of which he had come across before like basic alchemy and broom-riding. Kai thought it would be difficult to learn such a sport indoors, but Namjoon always had a spell ready. He made the living room into a football field-sized area and Kai flew and flew until his thighs gave out. It took him a whole week until he could functionally control the broom, and even then he decided that he’d much rather walk to get to his destination than use the dastardly thing. 

Potions, he had less trouble with. It was so akin to chemistry but different. Namjoon lent him the potions book he used back when he was in Mahoutokoro, the Japanese wizarding school, and while most of it was written in Japanese, Namjoon had made notes on the side in Korean to which Kai could follow. Even if he had to ask the man a few long words because his family barely used their mother tongue these days. He could spend hours in front of the mini cauldron Namjoon bought him and watch flames of all colours lit ablaze. 

On some days, Namjoon would take him for a stroll down Diagon Alley and visit shops they hadn’t gotten the chance to on the first day Kai arrived. When Kai asked him about the money, Namjoon waved him off. He said something about having too much and Kai never asked since. He did wonder what was the exchange rate between pounds and wizarding money. He knew that there were three to exchange, the bronze Knuts, silver Sickles, and golden Galleons. Namjoon reassured him that there would be no need to have money in Hogwarts since everything was already supplied for him. 

Slowly, but surely, the end of August crawled upon them and Kai had gotten used to falling asleep in Namjoon’s spare bedroom, full of weird trinkets the man had collected in his day. The night before he was set to go to Hogwarts, Namjoon had an epiphany. 

“Kai!” he screamed from the kitchen while he made dinner. The boy ran out. 

“What, what is it?”

Namjoon stood there, grasping his chest as if he had something clawed at him and Kai rushed to his side. “Namjoon, what is it?”

“We forgot to get you a familiar!” 

“A what?” Kai asked, stopping abruptly. Namjoon turned the stove off and ripped his apron from his body. His face, stricken, made it seem as though he had witnessed a murder. But Kai had come to realise that the man in front of him was a fan of theatrics. 

“Come along, kid,” he grunted as he slipped his shoes on, “we haven’t got much time before the shops close.”

Blindly, Kai followed him. “What’s a familiar?”

“It’s like… a companion of sorts for the wizard. It could be a spirit or an animal. It does your spying, your delivering, and it helps your magic become more… potent. They should’ve mentioned it in the supplies list… something about a pet? I don’t know, these western spellcasters have diverted a bit from the olden days, but that was what we called it. A familiar. Ah, I knew I forgot something! Stupid me.”

They dashed out of Knockturn Alley and the cobbled streets were nearly deserted. Only a few families were sprinkled along the arcade, most of which looked as though they were ready to return to their homes if the massive shopping bags they were carrying were any indication.The sun had started to set and all that was left of the day were the ghosts of clouds that had passed by and the fair lilac sky.

Namjoon cursed under his breath before he set off towards Ollivander’s and made a sharp turn into what looked like a pet shop. Like all the other shops, it was skinny in stature and had thick rounded beams in black that supported it which contrasted heavily against its blinding chartreuse walls. The shop’s sign swung back and forth on its sideways metallic pole. ‘Eeylops Owl Emporium.’ 

Kai stepped into the dimly lit shop and looked around. There were owls in cages, cats roaming about, and even mice crawling high up to the ceilings. The counter was empty. 

“Excuse me,” Namjoon called out. Silence met him and Kai huddled closer as the echoing squeaks and chippers grew and grew. 

A stout, elderly lady with a massive chin toddled out from behind the counter and craned his neck slightly inwards to get a better look of her.

“You’re late,” she scolded. Namjoon could only give her a charming grin. 

“Kai, look around and see which one you’d like to bring with you. I’d say owls are the most useful. They’re soft and they can deliver your letters instantly.”

While Namjoon engaged with the shopkeeper, Kai circled the display of animals. He tried to meet each of their eyes whether they were big preying owls or minute mice, but all had averted his gaze. Then he met one sharp-looking owl. It had tawny feathers that framed its large chest. It nipped at the cage softly as Kai passed and held his gaze. 

“I’d like this one please,” Kai called out to the elder lady from the front of the shop. She tutted at him before she waved a hand and the cage was gently placed in his arms. Namjoon walked to him before he cooed at the owl.

“She’s so pretty!” he gushed. “Look at the edge of her feathers! Magnificent!”

Kai pursed his lips at the man. “How can you tell it’s a she?”

“Sixth sense,” he coyly sniggered and winked. The man moved towards the till and fished inside his polka-dotted orange blazer for a few gold coins. The shopkeeper begrudgingly accepted it and tossed him a bronze coin back. Namjoon smiled at her and then they merrily strolled back to his flat.

It was getting quite late, but the sun still shone albeit dimly on the now violet sky. The streets were completely empty and Kai took the liberty of roaming around and pressing his face up against the store windows now that no one was there to watch him stare at everything in awe. Namjoon kept his pace a few steps behind, the only reason Kai knew he was still there was the echoes of his laughter. It was the nicest hour, Kai thought, that even Knockturn alley looked beatific. 

“What will you name her?” Namjoon inquired once they’re back in the flat. 

Kai watched the gentle bird on his arm, he brought her closer and the owl nuzzled further into his chest. “I’m not too sure. She’s an eagle owl, right?”

“I’m impressed,” Namjoon quipped from where he stood to prepare dinner. From here, Kai winced each time the man brought down the knife onto the chopping board as if he was there to behead a beast and not cook dinner. “Yes, she is.”

“Maybe Ceres?”

Namjoon’s head popped up from the kitchen at that and the mad chopping noises stopped. “Like the Roman goddess?”

The owl nipped at his raised finger then looked up at him, its beady and large hazel eyes bore to him. Kai smiled. “Like the goddess.”

Ceres nuzzled her beak into the crook of Kai’s fingers. A surge of warmth filled him.

“I think that’s perfect,” Namjoon complimented softly. Then the man clapped his hands and Ceres bristled on Kai’s arm. “Okay, come help me make dinner. I’m not too sure where to put all this chicken in. I think I need to boil it first. I’ll feed Ceres some meat after.”

Kai barked out a laugh, giddiness surged from deep inside of him. For the first time in a very long time, it would be his first day of school. He would be the new kid all over again and practice such magic in classes, where he didn’t need to worry about being the odd one out. Everything Namjoon had taught him thus far was intoxicating, he needed to know more and more and he knew he could only find it in one place: Hogwarts, and that was where he was heading next. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you, as always, to lovely JC (cathswaite) for beta reading this chapter! I love you homie
> 
> Come chat on twitter: @FAIRYJ00N


	4. Hogwarts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WELCOOOOOOOOOME ALL OF YOU TO HOGWAAAAARTS! I WELCOME ALL OF YOU TO SCHOOOOOOL! Did you know that here at Hogwarts we've got a hidden swimming pool! 
> 
> Beta'd by the lovely JC (cathswaite,) thank you for your excellent work as always. I wrote in an extra 10 pages so please do read! 
> 
> Twitter: @FAIRYJ00N

The last time Kai had stepped foot into the King’s Cross railway station was when he first arrived in England. They had taken a flight from Bulgaria and flew in straight to Heathrow airport. His father insisted they take a train to the city and when they stopped in the station Kai remembered thinking how grand all of it was. But this was a whole hidden area from the general station. They were on platform nine and three-quarters! The grimy grey steam box of the train was topped by a curved maroon plaque and on it, written in gold, were the words “Hogwarts Express” and the generic school’s crest that was also embroidered on Kai’s black robes. The train’s whistle blew and its chimney coughed up white puffs of smoke. 

“Remember, if anything happens, just owl me. You have my address and Ceres will know. Okay?”

“Yes,” Kai reassured Namjoon with a smile. The boy reached out to hug the man and found himself engulfed in the tightest hug he had ever been in. Kai laughed into his shoulder. 

When he pulled away, Namjoon fixed him with a pointed look. His purple eyes were wide and Kai feared if he kept it up, they might actually pop out of his eye sockets. “Seriously, Kai. Just say the word and I’ll be there to help you.”

“I know, Namjoon.” Kai took the man’s hand and squeezed. Namjoon looked momentarily appeased. “Thank you for everything. Besides, it’s not like you can just banish all the evils in the world, right? I have to start learning on my own…at Hogwarts,” he added with a wink.

The man’s violet eyes glimmered for a second and he scoffed, crossing both of his arms across his chest. “You’d be surprised.”

“What was that?”

Before Namjoon could reply, the train conductor’s shrill warning echoed throughout the platform. Kai spared one last glance around. Children--students--milled about, entering the train in a single file line as their parents watched proudly from the sides. He noticed, albeit belatedly, that each student (save for the really short ones he thought to be first years) were clothed by a black robe akin to his except they all had small details of colour. Some hoods were emerald on the inside, some were red. He swore he saw a yellow and blue in the distance, but he couldn’t be sure. A small boy excused himself to walk past Kai, he turned once and waved enthusiastically at his parents who were just a few steps behind Namjoon.

Kai wished his parents were here to see him go and venture in this new stage of his life, but he knew that sacrifices had to be made in order for him to be where he was right now. Plus, it wasn’t as though he was entirely alone. Within the span of a month, Namjoon had made himself home in Kai’s heart and he was grateful for the man’s interference. And if he was honest with himself, Kai was utterly excited for Hogwarts even if he had an ominous prophecy tailing him. 

“I better go. Thank you again, Namjoon. Seriously.”

The man smiled cordially at him, his dimples deepening. Kai braved himself to turn around and push his cart. A student his age, wearing the textbook Hogwarts uniform, spotted him. She helped him and his baggage on board and with a flick of her wand his luggage had been stowed away perfectly. When he was finally inside, he could only see a wisp of Namjoon’s purple hair from the window but that was enough encouragement to keep going until he could find a seat. 

He tried his best to not give in to the ugly bubble of envy within him as he saw the other students break bread with their friends, all of them already seated with their best mates finally reunited after a summer away. How he longed to know what that felt like. _Soon,_ his brain supplied. _You will._

The corridors were difficult passageways, but he made do. After five minutes of traipsing gingerly along the skinny aisles, he finally made it into a car full of sealed compartments. He hoped he could find an empty one but as he walked down the car, each compartment was fully occupied. Kai felt the flame of hope in him extinguished rapidly until he spotted a half-opened compartment at the very end of the car. 

He peeked inside from where he stood a few steps away, cautious to not get caught. In it were two boys in black robes lined with emerald, much like the girl who helped him earlier. Kai grounded himself. He just had to ask them if he could sit. He knew that. Still, tendrils of doubt began to grip around his ribs and he found it difficult to take in air. With just enough sanity left, the boy gently tapped the door and popped his head in. 

“Excuse me, do you mind? Everywhere else is full,” he squeaked. 

The first boy to look at him had hair as dark as a raven. His face was soft, as though he had never seen a hard day’s work in his life, and his uniform was proper and right. He eyed Kai once before the corners of his mouth twitched upwards. “Aye! Go on then.”

The both of them appeared to be Asian, of that Kai knew. He could even go as far as to say they were both Koreans, but their accents told a different story. It was Northern English, one he had yet to pick up. Of the few English _Youtubers_ he watched, only some were from the North and their accents were sharp and short in comparison to those from the South. 

It was plausible that the two boys were raised in England, which could mean they didn’t know of the prophecy! Kai hoped the warnings Namjoon heeded were merely cautionary tales and that young Asian wizards of such descent would not share the same ideals as their parents.

“I’m Kai, Huening Kai, and you are?”

“Choi Yeonjun, Slytherin ‘Ead Boy,” the boy answered and angled his badge at Kai proudly. “Don’t think I’ve ever seen you around. You new?”

Kai was on the verge of replying when the other boy in the compartment interjected. “Brother, d’ya have to be friends with every stray witch and wizard you meet?”

Yeonjun’s brother was blond--dyed, Kai noticed from the inch of dark root hair lining his scalp. His face was much more slender than his brother’s which fit perfectly with the boy’s sharp feline eyes that pinned Kai to his seat. There was an aura to him which Kai couldn’t quite place, but it was no good if the boy’s scowl at him was anything to go by. 

“Alright, calm down,” Yeonjun chastised, “look at him, he’s harmless! Besides, he might be the new transfer student the headmistress owled me about.”

Kai blinked. “Sorry, did you just call me harmless?”

Kai was never good at conflict de-escalation. It was one learned skill he could never master. There was just too much brewing in him that he felt the need to put the two boys in their place. Who were they to talk to him in that way? Were all magic children just jerks in general?

Yeonjun cleared his throat and raised both hands in alarm. “Oh, no. I’m sorry, Kai. I didn’t mean for it to sound like that. It’s just--”

“D’ya even know any spells?” Beomgyu drawled from his seat by the window. 

Kai racked his brain. Yeonjun cussed at his brother in the background and Kai frowned. If a spell was what it took to prove himself, then so be it. He knew a couple of charms and enchantments, but for him to truly succeed he must find something relevant. Contextual, yes. He scanned the compartment until his eyes landed on the windows. He fished his wand out from his inner-robe pocket and said, “Capacious extremis.”

The tiny compartment expanded until the previous two-seater chairs were four seats. As Beomgyu moved further away from where Kai stood by the entry, the boy kept his eyes on him before he disgruntledly shut the book he was reading and stowed it away. 

“That’s a charm and a half!” Yeonjun praised him. “Come, sit. Why have you transferred and where from? You look like you’re a highly capable wizard already.”

Then, Kai realised he couldn’t tell them the truth. Xia Liu’s prophecy sung in his head like an elevator tune, constantly playing in the back of his mind as to not let him forget what was to come. He had already blurted out his past to Namjoon, he wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice. Not that Trusting Namjoon was the wrong choice, but Kai didn’t think it was the correct one either. Only time could assess the damage Kai had done. He felt his chest tighten and decided to banish the prophecy from his mind momentarily. 

“Um, yeah. I’m from Ilvermorny.”

“What, like that American wizarding school?” Beomgyu scoffed. 

“Yeah. My mother worked for the MACUSA and she’s now working here indefinitely so since she wanted to bring me, I didn’t see why I couldn’t just continue my studies at Hogwarts.”

Yeonjun hummed and rubbed his chin. “Smart, that. Tell me, what did they teach you lot back there?”

“All sorts of stuff. I’m sure most things overlap anyway, that’s why Hogwarts accepted me. Have you both been here since the first year?”

The lies flowed out of his mouth like water, and he couldn’t bring himself to stop. Logically, they weren’t complete lies. Half-truths fitted better. He had simply elongated his pre-existing knowledge of Ilvermorny to fit his current circumstances. Yes. That was all. 

“Yep,” Yeonjun sighed. “We haven’t known anything else. Born and raised in Yorkshire, really. I was mad excited when my owl came on my eleventh birthday! Did they have houses in Ilvermorny?”

Kai nodded and looked out the window, tall grass blurred past them into a strip of green. “Yeah, I was placed in Horned Serpents. Do you guys have them here?”

“‘Course. What d’ya take us for?” Beomgyu sneered then pointed his nose away. Yeonjun swatted at him and sent Kai a strained smile before he rubbed his palms together. 

“Never mind him. Yes, we do. Let’s see… we’ve got the Gryffindors.” Beomgyu feigned a gag but otherwise kept his gaze fixed at the houses they passed. Yeonjun let out a faint laugh before he continued. “You’ll see people wear the red and yellow crests on their robe. It prefers the brave… sometimes stupid, yes, but brave. Then we have the yellow-tied Hufflepuffs, they’re good fun! People often mistake them for the weakest link, but I don’t think so.”

“That’s ‘cause you’re soft,” Beomgyu huffed from his corner. 

Yeonjun rolled his eyes then pointedly spoke a little louder. “Hufflepuffs are needed for this society. They see equality when our kind would often choose bias, hm?”

“Your kind? What’s that?” Kai asked at the edge of his seat. Yeonjun tore his eyes from his cowering brother and grinned sheepishly. 

“Oh, we’re Slytherins! Green robed serpents and everything. House of the loyal and cunning. But that doesn’t mean we’re bad. Unfortunately, we’ve got the worst reputation in the last few decades… too many dark wizards and death eaters that came from this house…”

Their compartment jolted a bit and Kai rearranged himself in his seat when Beomgyu pointed out, miffed, “There was only _one_ dark wizard.”

“Which is one too many,” Yeonjun rebutted with a glower. “Kai, do you know where you’ll be sorted?”

“Not exactly… I’m assuming your traditions are different from Ilvermorny…”

“Erm, maybe? I guess that’s why McGonaggal told the ‘Eads to bring you to her before the sorting ceremony. She’s the headmistress, by the way.”

Kai chewed his bottom lip. There were so many customs for him to learn, he didn’t know if he could survive the week. Nothing in _Hogwarts: A History_ talked about transfer students like him. It wasn’t like he could just go on _Google_ and type out ‘Hogwarts Transfer Student. Help?’ into the search bar and get actual advice. He slumped in his chair, this was tougher than he thought. 

Just then, a knock echoed throughout the compartment. Outside stood a dazzling girl with ebony hair tied into a very high ponytail, robe lined with green. Slytherin, his mind supplied. She looked at him expectantly through the jalousies and Kai reached forward to open the door. She stood there, hands over one another below her waist.

“May I come in?” Her voice was as sweet as nectar but with a ridiculously sharp edge to it. Unlike the brothers, her accent was unmistakably foreign. Slightly rigid, but flowed more like a Southern dialect than a Northern one. 

“Yeji!” Yeonjun exclaimed, the happiest Kai had seen him. “‘Course. Come in. Take a seat.”

Yeji sauntered in and left Kai to close the door, Beomgyu took no interest in their newest visitor. He was still stubbornly pressed against the corner of the compartment, sullenly staring out of the window. Kai reached over and closed the door, keeping his eyes on the new passenger.

The girl stopped to sit across from Yeonjun, which meant that she faced Kai as well. They locked eyes and Kai was almost entranced by their depth. 

She gave him a once over. “Who are you?” 

“He’s Kai!” Yeonjun enthused. “The transfer.”

“Oh, McGonagall wrote to us about you. Welcome.”

“Thanks,” Kai said as he offered her a thin smile. She didn’t return the favour, instead, she fixed her attention back to the Slytherin boy beside him. Kai noticed the emerald crest on her robe. Slytherin. 

“Yeonjun. Have you heard from your extended family?”

“No. What’s wrong?”

“Yeji,” Beomgyu interrupted them tersely. “I don’t think you should be discussing...private matters out in the open.”

Yeji’s dark eyes panned to Kai before she snapped them back to Beomgyu. “I will discuss my matters whenever and wherever I please, Beomgyu. The new boy is no threat to me. Where did you say you were coming from again?” 

“America,” Kai stated. Yeji’s gaze bore unto him and he felt rooted to the spot. “My mum’s from South Korea.”

“Is she a witch?” 

“Yes.”

“And your father?” Yeji questioned.

“A hu--A muggle.”

Beomgyu choked on a laugh. “So, you’re a half-blood?”

His laughter was cut short by Yeonjun who stood up and smacked his arm. “I don’t know what’s gotten into you, but you better stop. We don’t do that _here,_ ” Yeonjun spat. 

Kai felt his whole body tremble. Images of hexes and jinxes, being locked in a broom closet, and much more flashed before his eyes. God, he can’t deal with this right now! He needed to rise above it or he’d never get this second chance he kept talking about. His fingers clung onto the plush seats and he counted the number of breaths he took until the world stopped swirling. 

“You okay?” Yeonjun asked beside him. Kai nodded his head reassuringly. The train’s whistle blew out and the boy was able to ground himself to the present.

“Kai,” Yeji started, “are you in contact with your extended family in South Korea?”

“No.”

Yeji crossed her legs and leaned back in her seat. “I wouldn’t think so. It seems like everyone else here has ties back home. So whether you like it or not, Beomgyu, I’ll share all I want.”

Beomgyu slouched further down in his seat. Yeji rolled her eyes before she inched forwards. 

“I heard the Jungs are sending a few of their family members over to the west to search for The Youngest.”

“Them? What could they possibly achieve with that? It’s not like they were listening to Xia Liu before this anyway,” Yeonjun trailed off with his brows drawn together. 

Kai perked up. _Xia Liu?_

“One of them ran away, remember?”

“Yes,” Yeonjun hummed, “to marry a muggle.”

_Wait. Xia Liu? They know?_

He wasn’t given a chance to panic about what this could possibly mean for him if Namjoon’s revelation was leaked out. 

“No. It is far darker than that,” Yeji whispered. She had Kai’s full attention now, and the boy sucked in a breath when she craned her head even closer. The pressure in the compartment suffocated him and it seemed that even their most stoic passenger was disturbed. 

Yeonjun jerked away. “What do you mean it’s darker? The Eastern wizarding world cast out anyone who isn't pureblooded! I even heard the Jungs are still following that runaway and her family. How could that possibly be darker?”

A beat passed and Kai held his breath. Yeji’s eyes grew hooded and when she spoke her voice was sweeter than any candy he had ever tasted but the aftertaste was as bitter as dirt. 

“The Asian wizarding world is crumbling, Yeonjun.”

“I’m sorry,” Kai interrupted, palming his knees as he let out a nervous chuckle. “the Asian wizarding world is _crumbling_? How and why haven’t we heard anything about this? If something was going on, wouldn’t the whole world need to know? Are they even in contact with the rest of the wizarding world?”

Beomgyu huffed. “Why would they? The East contains the purest bloodlines of this world, no one dares to come and pry into their private affairs. They are highly respected.”

“If they’re so high and mighty how come we’ve never heard news of what’s going on there back here?”

“Well, because it’s unsightly to launder--what’s that saying you muggles use, right-- dirty clothes!”

“To air out dirty laundry,” Kai corrected under his breath. Beomgyu shot him a glare. Between them, Yeonjun fiddled with his fingers. 

Beomgyu pointed a finger at him and resumed, “If the Western wizards get wind of what’s happening back in the east they’ll surely want to meddle and cause even bigger destruction, just like the Second Wizarding War. Only worse.”

“Worse?”

“The Eastern wizards are wrathful and draconian,” Beomgyu muttered. “They have been doing unspeakable things that most of the world would not approve of.”

“Like what?”

Beomgyu turned away at this, and Yeonjun averted his gaze. Kai was only met with Yeji’s aloofness. She cracked her skinny neck and placed both of her hands on top of her knee. 

“Murders, kidnappings, hexes not many wish to conjure,” she droned on as with the same boredom one would have when listing off groceries. Kai felt his whole body freeze. 

“Is this somehow related to Xia Liu’s… prophecy?” He asked after a beat. 

Yeonjun snapped his head at Kai. “How did you know that?”

“I have a friend.”

“Yes,” Yeji answered. “Everything that’s happening in the East started happening since Xia Liu died fifty years ago. My parents received a warning through some divination a while back. The Old Five are _afoot_ because a new evil is rising.”

“Old five?” Kai felt unbelievably tired. He yearned the peace and quiet back in Chiswick and his silent skates around the neighbourhood. His head was pounding in tandem with the jostle of the train car. He might actually be sick.

“They’re the five oldest wizarding families in the East. The Kims, the Xings, the Jungs, the Sasakis, and the Parks. They birthed some of the most powerful wizards and witches of the current generation and are essentially the Eastern council of magic. They have the right to redo Magic Law as they see fit. That means if they’re active again… this prophecy is coming to play.”

“What… what does that even mean? Brother?” Beomgyu stuttered.

Yeonjun straightened his lips and clasped his hands together. “I think we might have to go to the East if things break out into a war.”

“Wait, hold on!” Kai sputtered, “War? You’re children! And you said that this was Eastern conflict, right? You’re here, though. Surely, that would be enough excuse to not go.”

Beomgyu laughed hollowly. He turned to face Kai and narrowed his eyes. “We don’t have a choice.”

Kai shuddered to think. Just how sinister were these Eastern families he keeps hearing about? And he thought his classmates hexing him to the brink of death back in Ilvermorny was inhumane! And what? All of this because someone married outside their occult realm? Ridiculous! Completely ridiculous! Surely, even wizards knew basic biology, right? If they failed to breed outside their… tribe their whole race would die out! 

It had begun to rain outside and the slow pitter-patter slowly became a thunderous roar. Kai stared out and watched the lean of the storm that tickled the trees and grass planes. There was an indescribable tightness in his chest. He needed to calm down. What did Namjoon tell him? Right, play it by ear. _Play it by ear?_

“But, for now,” Yeonjun interjected, voice mellow as he placed a hand on Kai’s shoulder, “we are starting a new term, which means new possibilities and new friends! Kai, you’ll love it there. Hogwarts has been the best six years of my life.”

“What in the actual…You’ve got to be taking the mic,” Beomgyu muttered in disbelief at the same time Kai asked, “Why do you say that as if you’re leaving soon?”

Yeonjun sniffed and threw a glare at his brother’s direction. “Shut up, Beom. Dwelling on the future won’t do us any good. And Kai, it’s cause I am. This is my final year,” Yeonjun cried wistfully, wiping his eyes free of fake tears. 

Yeji rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, averting her gaze out to the storm outside. Her high ponytail cracked behind her like a whip with her fast turn. Beomgyu clicked his tongue and reached up for his bag in the stowaway and fished for the hefty book he was reading earlier. 

Kai swallowed down the instant dread. The first friend he made would leave him after this year. He never wanted to kick his instincts so badly for picking this compartment. “Wow… Congratulations. Any plans for what you’re doing after?”

“Oh, I’ll have to work at the Ministry,” Yeonjun stated matter-of-factly. With the two other students completely disinterested in their conversation, the Head Boy had turned to face Kai completely. Kai noticed a faint scar that disappeared below the white collar of his shirt. 

Kai snapped his brain out of it and tried to remember what Namjoon told him about wizarding occupations. Ministry...Ministry...“Oh, like the MACUSA?"

Yeonjun laughed and the corners of his eyes crinkled, “Sort of, yeah. I hope to be in charge of International Affairs."

“That’s cool… Did you always want to work there?”

Yeonjun’s laugh died and his smile faltered. Curiosity welled within Kai but all Yeonjun replied with was, “No.”

The train screeched to a halt so abruptly that even Beomgyu knocked his head against the window. Kai attempted to peer outside but was met with complete darkness and a faint light from afar. When he narrowed his eyes, he could just make out the dark masonry. 

“We must be at a border tunnel,” Yeji commented in that low voice of hers. She stretched her legs and arms. “The hobgoblins are probably charming the gates open to let us through.”

_Were they different from normal goblins?_ Kai asked, “Hobgoblins?”

“They’re the goblins’ more powerful cousins,” Yeonjun offered. “The only creatures who can do wandless magic at birth, I think. Not the magical bursts baby wizards do, of course. Like, actual grand magic. They guard these border tunnels across the country so the humans won’t ever come across the Hogwarts Express or other wizarding trains.”

As quickly as it stopped, the train rumbled alive and soon they had sped down the rail. Kai watched the outside world return in a single, fast stroke and settled back into the plush seat. Yeji yawned. 

“Oh Yeji, were you by yourself? I meant to ask earlier, sorry,” Yeonjun grinned.

Yeji cracked a reserved smile and Kai willed himself to not gasp out of sheer shock. Her long hair swayed behind her and she gently pushed them front. The mean demeanour she carried seemed to dissipate almost immediately as she launched into an explanation. 

“Oh well, sort of,” she mumbled shyly. Kai stared in disbelief. “Jisu and Chaeryong owled me saying that their families met up in France and were doing a joint holiday together so they would be dropped off at Hogsmeade before school started.”

Yeonjun hummed, his eyes wide and earnest. “Ah, I see. And what about Ryujin?”

“She’s great. She’s in the other car with her Gryffindor friends at the moment.”

Yeonjun gave her a final smile and a sigh. “That’s good to hear. Are any of your girls prefects this year?”

Kai watched in muted awe as Yeonjun slowly thawed the ice that was Yeji. She was animated, reserved but bug-eyed in things she was genuinely interested in and Yeonjun was a perfect conversationalist. They carried on like this for a while and Kai zoned out to look at the few students passing down their car.

The journey to Hogwarts was a full eight-hour ride. Kai wasn’t fond of such long journeys, but this was an exception. Once their conversation about the school year ahead had died out, Yeonjun and Yeji took turns to update him on the wizarding world. Kai had told them a minor fib about how he had not been keeping tabs due to a punishment from Ilvermorny. Yeonjun took that surprisingly well and listed off the more important side of history. 

It turned out that the two were Head Boy and Head Girl of Slytherin, only a step above prefects. They talked of elite bathrooms only such students can enter and how both of them had special quarters separate from the rest of their dorm. Which birthed another question: how was it that Hogwarts houses were so integrated into the English wizarding society that they could blame a certain house for unforgivable actions of crime? He reckoned he shouldn’t ask any more controversial questions until he was more settled in the school. Still, he pondered on the injustice of Slytherin’s infamy. 

Sometimes, when the two Heads went on about past political affairs, Beomgyu would jump in and add his two cents. For someone who was incredibly hostile, Beomgyu had softened around the edges and scowled at him less and less. Kai thought he would make an interesting friend. 

Beomgyu was the one to retell him the story of Harry Potter, the legendary student who was sorted into Gryffindor. And the boy who defeated the world’s last Dark Wizard, Voldemort. 

“Personally, he sounds like a twat,” Beomgyu commented before he resumed his recollection of the Second Wizarding War and the aftermath. “This was a few years before I was born, so I never had to see the Hogwarts ruins. Would be fun, though.”

Kai knew the bare minimum of wizardian history, which included Mr Potter. Through Beomgyu’s words, he decided that he wanted nothing more than to be the opposite of the man. Kai was here for one purpose and one purpose only and Harry couldn’t even find his own classroom! Though his feats were admirable, Kai simply yearned for a quiet, normal life of academia where he could better himself as a wizard and prove to his mother that he could take it so she could take her old life back. 

An hour passed and Kai heard a woman’s voice call out, “Anything off the trolley, dears?”

“Kai! Quick, open the door! I wanna buy something. Quick, quick!” Yeonjun exclaimed as he jumped up. Kai’s hand flew to the door’s handle and he wrenched it open. Yeonjun lew through the door in record time. 

The lady wheeled the trolley down and from where he sat, Kai noticed shelves upon shelves of sweets and tarts and a few newspaper rolls sticking out of the trolley’s front. The top tray overflowed with Every Flavour Beans and ‘Special Effects’ sweets that were bright pink and green but were too far for Kai to read their names off. There was even some packaging which glowed in daylight. “Anything off the trolley, my dear?” the old witch crooned. 

“Hiya, yes please,” Yeonjun rushed. “I’d like a bag of peppermint creams, two chocolate frogs, five Pepper Imps, maybe a bag of exploding bonbons. Wait, no, haha, sorry could you change that to four Fizzing Whizzbees…”

As Yeonjun listed off his purchase, Beomgyu groaned from the side of their compartment. “He can never control himself around food.”

Surprisingly, Yeji giggled at that. She hid her smile behind her laugh and her shoulders shook gently. “Let him have what he wants, Beomgyu. Your brother works very hard.”

“I never said he didn’t!” Beomgyu rebutted peevishly, his brows high in the air. Kai debated whether he should step in before things escalated but he didn’t have to, Yeonjun walked back into the compartment with a large bag of sweets. 

“What’s going on here?” he questioned. When no one answered, Yeonjun simply shrugged and plopped down on his seat, digging into his bag of goodies. He took a small bright orange box of Fiery Black Pepper Imps and ripped the packaging open. Inside were brown chunks of chocolate. He grabbed one and popped it into his mouth then a literal second later, a puff of smoke blew out from both of his ears. Kai coughed and jumped away as Yeji laughed at Yeonjun’s red face. “Kai, watch this,” he said before he inhaled deeply then pointed his mouth outwards and breathed out fire. 

Kai yelped when the fiery tendrils nearly reached him and he backed himself towards the corner, only realising Yeji was seated there when he fell on her lap which caused him to screech even louder. Yeonjun’s fire died out and he laughed heartily at Kai’s struggle to scramble away from the Slytherin Head Girl. Off to the side, Beomgyu’s lips twitched in amusement. 

Hours later, as the train screeched to a halt, he willed himself to forget about everything. Kai wanted to forget about his parents and his brazen escape, he wanted to forget about Namjoon and how he got here, and he wanted to forget Ilvermorny. He needed a fresh start and he needed it now. Outside, the stars had fallen and Kai saw the makings of a train station. The sign outside read: Hogsmeade. 

“Better grab your things quickly, Kai. We should head out now if we want to catch McGonagall before the feast.”

“You’re taking him?” Beomgyu questioned as he grabbed his overhead backpack. Yeonjun gave his brother a nod. 

“Yes. Yeji, can you please watch the prefects while I’m gone?”

“Of course.” The girl smiled at Yeonjun before she turned to Kai. “Good luck.”

Kai muttered, “Thanks.”

“Alright, let’s go before everyone clogs the exit. Brother, I’ll see you at the feast.” Yeonjun gave Beomgyu a quick nod and then he tugged Kai away. Unsurprisingly, most of the students were readily stepping off the train and onto the stoned platform. It was a tight fit, but Yeonjun’s Head Boy privilege allowed them to part the crowd and trudge through. Outside was chilly and Kai shuddered as he pulled his robes closer. 

“You’re like Moses,” Kai marvelled once they were off the train. Yeonjun guffawed. 

“Prophets! I know those! I did read a few religious texts in the muggle library my parents bought a while back. Are you religious?”

“No, I just like to read in my own time,” Kai confessed. He saw a few students with their luggage and then skidded to a stop. “Wait, Yeonjun, what about my things?”

“Oh, don’t worry. They’ll bring them to the dormitories once things have settled. Come, come. The feast starts at seven on the dot and it’s half past!”

They shuffled along and soon were at a crossroad with one road towards a majestic castle and the other towards a forest. Yeonjun took a sharp right into the dark forest, not even thinking twice. 

“Wait, Yeonjun, why are those students taking a left? Where are we going?”

“It all leads to the castle. The first years have to get on the boats, it’s tradition. Everyone else takes the carts to the castle from the forest.” Yeonjun smiled at him then grabbed his shoulder before he gave it a firm squeeze. “Don’t be scared, Kai, there are teachers everywhere up to the entrance gates.”

Kai held in a wince and toughened himself just enough to lift one foot in front of the other until they were surrounded by tall, tall trees. Each branch loomed over them, twiggy arms fraying in the wind. If his ears weren’t deceiving him, he could pick up the faint hoots of distant owls. He shuffled closer into Yeonjun’s side as subtle as he could, but at the slight twitch of the Head Boy’s lips, Kai knew he failed. They went deeper and deeper until Kai could barely make out what was in front of him. 

“Yeonjun… about transfer students. I’ve been told Hogwarts used to take in a lot. But what about recently?”

Yeonjun whipped out his wand and whispered ‘Lumos’ and a bright orb of light perched on top of it, enlightening their way. “Not recently, no. There was only one other student who transferred since I’ve been here.”

“And how did he take it?” Kai shivered and pulled his black robes around himself tighter as a gust of wind blew through.

Yeonjun's light airy tone was replaced with a harsh, cold one. “Good. I think. I'm not friends with him."

Kai blinked before he claimed his rebuttal. “You’re not friends with him? But you’re the friendliest person I’ve met so far!” 

Yeonjun laughed but it almost sounded like a sob. The trees around them danced with the breeze. Up ahead, Kai could make out a line of students waiting. Yeonjun remained silent and, for a while, the only thing accompanying their breathing was the sound of their footfalls on the fallen dried leaves of the forestry. 

“Thank you,” Yeonjun sighed, “he's... just difficult."

Kai pursed his lips. They were out in a clearing now with only a handful of students about, the rest tailed them at the very front of the forest. Yeonjun stepped aside so Kai could join the line as he tucked his wand away. From the corner of his eye, he saw a chariot pull up then he jerked when he saw that it was pulling in by itself. 

“Ye-yeonjun,” he stammered with widened eyes, “where are the horses?”

The Head Boy grinned, “They’re there. You just can’t see them unless you’ve seen death. Professor Flitwick, can I take this chariot by myself to the Headmistress’ tower? I’ve been tasked to deliver Kai straight to her when he arrives.”

“Kai? Oh, I see. Yes, certainly. Go ahead, Mr Choi,” a stout man with brown middle-parted locks chortled from the ground. Yeonjun smiled at him and jumped on board, lending a hand to Kai who was still shivering both from the cold and the invisible horses. 

Once sat, the chariot pulled away and Kai felt his earlier anxieties blown away by the breeze that ran through his hair. The slow strut grew into a full-on trod and soon the pair of them were galloping through the forest. The castle neared closer and closer. 

All things aside, Kai could feel it now. It was there, and he revelled in it, the frizzled air that felt of thousands of years of accumulated magic. It throbbed within him and he felt a million times lighter. His fingers were electric and, for the first time in his life, he felt the magic in him flow like liquid around his body. Pumped around in his arteries, circulating. He felt like a true wizard and he hadn’t even taken a single class yet.

The chariot drew to a stop and at the gates was a young woman, a professor no doubt, who stood there and checked off every single chariot. Attendance, Kai presumed. They pulled inwards and then Kai saw it. The Hogwarts castle upfront and close, piercing the starry sky with its towers. 

“Yeonjun,” he breathed. “It’s beautiful.”

Across him, Yeonjun grinned. “Welcome to Hogwarts.”

The castle was wondrous and massive. It was like it had been painted straight out of Kai’s old bedtime storybooks of knights and dragons. Each cobblestone they drove over was a nudge reminding him of where he was. Ilvermorny was impressive, but this was something else. They galloped past the main entrance where Kai saw multiple chariots slowing down and letting a set of students off. Their chariot wheeled along the castle’s perimeter, trailing along the black lake until they approached a far corner of the castle. When the chariot halted, Yeonjun jumped off first, dusting off his robes before he gave Kai a hand. 

“This is a side entrance to the castle.” Yeonjun aimed his wand at the wooden door and went ‘Alohomora.’ The door’s metallic lock creaked open and revealed a stairwell. “I hope that you stay out of trouble, Kai, but even that won’t stop you from finding new locked doors around the castle. Believe me, I’ve tried.”

They ventured up a few flights until Yeonjun stepped off the stairwell and onto a side door, which was once again opened with his wand. This door, unlike the last, gave way to a long stretch of hallway that glowed golden in comparison to the dark tower they had just been in. The corridor was warmly lit up by floating candlelight and there were massive paintings held upright by ornate copper frames everywhere he turned. Maybe it was a trick of the light, but Kai swore he saw one move. Kai didn’t know why he would have thought the inside of the castle would’ve been anything less grand than its exterior. It was a castle, for god’s sake. He wondered how long it took a student to find their way around the school.

His mind circled back to the boy Yeonjun mentioned. Who was he and how did he find it? Was he older than Kai or were they the same age? Was he from England or did he come from somewhere else? Kai desperately attempted to catch up with his thoughts so he could keep all his questions at bay, but it was all too much. The train ride had drained him and his self-restraint had already been bulldozed from when he jumped on an empty car to meet a man he didn’t know in London a month ago. Recently impulsivity seems to be his closest friend. 

“Yeonjun. About that boy who transferred. I know you aren’t friends, but I just want to see… you know, compare.”

“Right.” Yeonjun took them down another flight of stairs. Kai felt dizzy even trying to remember where they came from. How Yeonjun could navigate around the school with such ease was beyond him. “I can’t say I fully get it so I guess you should speak to someone who does. It’s only fair. He’s not hard to find, very notable.”

“That’s good, right?”

“Depends. We’re here,” Yeonjun declared. They stood in front of a wooden door, wider and taller by a large margin than the one they had entered the castle through, and Kai was only half shocked when the boy physically went up to open it instead of waving his wand as he did for the other doors. “He’s in Gryffindor and his name’s Choi Soobin.” 

“Gryffindor?” 

“Yep. Now just up here, come on.” 

They climbed up the spiral stairwell which took them to the top of the tower. The ceiling was lined with panes upon panes of clear glass, Kai pictured how beatific the rays of sunlight would’ve been if they had visited during the day. At the top of the stairwell was another door, smaller and more human-sized. Yeonjun turned to face Kai and gave him one last reassuring smile before he knocked. 

“Come in,” called a silvery voice. 

Yeonjun pushed the door open and stepped in, Kai only a second behind him and it was like no other offices he’d seen. Firstly, it was circular and its circumference were lined with tall shelves of books on Muggle Studies, Latin, and, if Kai squinted, a first edition _Notable Witches in History_ tucked safely at the very top of the shelf. He briefly scanned it during one of the afternoons he spent in Namjoon’s flat when he had been away from business and found himself entranced by the powerful women that had shaped the world. Xia Liu must’ve been one of the women in later editions, he was sure of it. Maybe he could ask Namjoon to owl him a copy of the book’s most recent publication.

The windows were glass-less and, for a second, Kai worried himself about potential flooding during rainstorms then he remembered there must’ve been a shielding charm in place to act as glass. It allowed a beatific view to the lake which reflected the night sky and its starry companions. The mountains were bulky and black in the night, framed picturesquely as though the scene was a painting. Like the hallway, the office basked in a tangerine glow and one glance around showed him golden bowls of fire standing on clawed feet by the door and the desk. There were hints of reds everywhere from the carpet, the drapes, and even the feather on the quill which rested in its inkpot. 

“Mr Choi, to what do I owe this visit?” 

By the desk stood a fierce woman. Her jaw was sharp and it was tucked into a book. A pair of circular reading glasses rested on her slim nose and she pushed it up gingerly with one thin hand as it began to slide down. There were years etched onto her face, hard ones Kai could tell from the persistent frown lines and also Beomgyu’s crash course in the train. McGonagall had been one of the professors who stayed to protect Hogwarts during the Second Wizarding War. Even when Yeji commented on the headmistress’ efforts to rebuild the school from ruins, her tone had been affectionate and admiring. McGonagall’s grey hair was placed into a neat bun above her head, and she spoke with kindly laced authority and a prominent Scottish accent. Beside him, Yeonjun stepped forward. 

“I brought the new transfer student to you, professor.”

The headmistress finally spared him a glance, tucking the book away in the crook of her arm. Her eyes reminded Kai of a cat just as Namjoon’s had glinted when he told Kai he was an owl. “Mr Huening, I presume?”

“Yes, professor.”

“Well, I suppose a welcome should be the first order of business. We’re very pleased to have you attend this year, Mr Huening. I’m the Headmistress, please address me as Professor McGonagall,” she announced. Kai gulped. “Unfortunately, there are too many things to discuss, but for now we should at least get your house sorted so you’ll know where to sit during the Welcoming Feast. Mr Choi, if you could please fetch the Sorting Hat. Do be careful, it’s been rather mouthy recently.”

McGonagall reminded him strongly of an ardent, old children’s book character. Her words reflected her intellect and she walked with gravitas as if colloquialism would absolutely destroy her. 

Yeonjun walked off and retrieved a rather beaten witch hat. Kai couldn’t tell whether it was originally brown or if it hadn’t been washed in a while. It was, truth be told, a really ugly hat. There were patches of cloth all around it and even a rip near its rim. During the time his mother had tutored him in practical charms, he knew he had come across a mending charm and he wondered why a highly skilled witch fit to be a headmistress wouldn’t mend her hat. His amazement revived when the crinkles all around it moved until it formed a rather stern face on the front of the hat. 

“A bit too early for a feast, professor,” it grumbled through the rip near its rim. McGonagall tutted it as she ambled closer, her regal navy dress robes that tailed her walk then pooled by her leather boots. 

“I have an early comer this year. Do behave.”

The hat guffawed and its whole tip bopped up and down as it scrunched into itself before it adopted its original posture. “I am the mightiest hat, headmistress. The most intelligent enchanted item a witch or wizard will ever meet!” 

“I am sure you are,” McGonagall reaffirmed it and Kai raised his brows. A talking hat which a witch claimed to be intelligent? Hogwarts was a labyrinth of mysteries. “Mr Choi, if you would please put the hat on Mr Huening’s head.”

Yeonjun replied with a quiet agreement then cautiously placed the hat on top of Kai’s head. He wasn’t sure why but he thought it would be lighter. 

“Are you calling me fat!” the hat barked from above him. 

Kai yelped and Yeonjun burst out into a fit of giggles. The headmistress watched in concealed amusement and only stepped in when Kai tried to remove the Sorting Hat from his head. It protested and tried to bite Kai’s finger and the student screeched when he could actually feel teeth. 

“Alright, settle down the both of you,” McGonagall declared. The Sorting Hat glared at him as Kai held it at arms reach, far away from his head. “Mr Huening, I’m sorry that must have frightened you. The Sorting Hat has been enchanted rather cleverly to contain the knowledge of all four founders of Hogwarts: Godric Gryffindor, Rowena Ravenclaw, Salazar Slytherin, and Helga Hufflepuff. On top of that, it could not only talk but it has been gifted with Legilimency. The skill to read minds. So, I highly advise you to proceed with caution for your thoughts for the remainder of the Sorting.”

Kai could only nod curtly. Yeonjun was still grinning behind his hand-covered mouth. He cursed the boy for not telling him but also cursed himself for forgetting to read this specific chapter in _Hogwarts: A History_ when Namjoon lent it to him. What an actual ditz. 

McGonagall cleared her throat and gestured for him to put on the hat. “Now, at your leisure.”

Kai gulped. They could _read_ minds? Was there anything out there that magic couldn’t do? He wondered if Yeonjun had… Legilimency and kicked himself for rambling endlessly in his head. _Okay, Kai, focus_. 

The boy reluctantly placed the hat back on top of his head and grimaced when he felt it move. 

The hat hummed. “Every year the heads I sit on get curiouser and curiouser… You know, I’d usually have to sing a whole song before I get to this part about the houses but to Merlin’s grave with it, aye! Right, let’s see what we’ve got here. I sense bravery. Have you been rather--stop chittering, lad-- reckless? Aye, oh-ho! I see, yes. I see it all.”

Kai closed his eyes. _Please don’t tell them, please. They can’t know._ He whispered to that in his mind. 

“... Gryffindor?” it whispered then, “No, no. _Don’t_ tell, eh? I see… self-perseverance. You have a longing… for knowledge… success? Slytherin, perhaps? That lot can get you to where you need to be, you know. Strive for greatness and all. Very loyal, them.”

It was a tempting offer. If Kai could even call it that. The only people he had met are all Slytherins. And sure, there was the whole thing about their unjust prejudice and how there were some people like Beomgyu who were rude at the start, but it doesn’t sit with him right. Kai wanted success, he knew, but it wasn’t his main objective. It was something bigger. Xia Liu’s prophecy rang in his head, relentless. He needed to right whatever wrong that may come and be better before it. He had to follow Namjoon’s advice so his mother could finally go back to being a witch and not have to hide away because of him. 

Kai felt the hat inch to the left of his head and he wondered what sort of face its crinkles were forming now. “Not Slytherin, no… I see, alright. Aye, aye, I get it. You’re the patient and hard-working kind! For what you seek is no mundane victory, you seek justice! Hufflepuff would do you right! But…”

Of the Hogwarts houses, Kai knew them the least. He wasn’t sure if Hufflepuff would be a right fit for him considering Beomgyu’s rather harsh input on them in the train, but then again there was Yeonjun calling them the balance of society… No, no, Kai wasn’t one of them. Patient? Ha! Kai took the first chance he got to run from his house. Couldn’t the hat see what he really wanted? He does want justice but before anything else he wanted--

“...Malleable mind, very quick, hunger for knowledge, yes, yes, Ravenclaw!” the hat cheered. 

The air frizzed around him like electricity just as he had felt when he and Yeonjun entered that dark forest. There were no sparks that burst around him or gusts of wind that blew past him, but when he looked down he saw that the black customary tie he had on underneath his blazer had transformed into a blue and black striped one. On his chest, where the Hogwarts crest lay, was now a similar navy design which pictured a raven. _Ravenclaw_. 

Yeonjun took the hat off him. “Usually there would be a roar of applause,” he muttered before he placed the Sorting Hat onto the headmistress’ desk. “But congratulations, Kai! You really do fit in Ravenclaw, now that I think about it!”

“Yes, congratulations, indeed,” McGonagall chimed in. A soft smile was painted on red lips and Kai was taken aback when she offered him a hand to shake. He accepted and timidly shook it. “I expect nothing more but your best as a member of wise Rowena’s house. I will arrange for you a housemate to help you overcome this steep learning curve and I will fetch for you by the end of the coming week about catching up with previous year's studies. Is that alright with you?”

“Yes, professor.”

“Very well. Mr Choi, will you please escort Mr Huening to the Ravenclaw table? I know you are well-acquainted with their heads. And do tell them to report back to me on the Divination case we were working on last semester.”

Yeonjun nodded. “Of course, I’ll relay the message. Will you be walking with us?”

“Not this time, I’m afraid. I have a few businesses that require my attention before the feast. But don’t fret, I will see both of you at the Great Hall momentarily.”

“I never worry,” Yeonjun boasted and McGonagall gave him a scoff. “But thank you, professor.”

McGonagall waved at him dismissively and Kai followed suit, casting his eyes downwards. “Yes, thank you, Professor McGonagall.”

The witch fixed him a cordial smile and crossed her hands together, the draping navy sleeves shadowing the movement. “You’re very welcome, Mr Huening,” she insisted. “Welcome to Hogwarts.”

  
  



	5. Choi Soobin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Firstly, thank you so much for your time. The fifth chapter is finally here! I know I said that I've had this chapter since a month ago and, in truth, I really did. However, I've just come around to posting it now because I've finally got someone on my team who's beta reading the previous chapters, as well as this one, and I wanted to update the fanfiction only when the first four chapters were finally clean and corrected. Everyone! Please give a round of applause to @cathswaite! She's an absolute Goddess and has helped me countless times in writing. I encourage all of you to go read the first four chapters again (only if you want, of course) because I've added in more minute and clear details in them. Polished them, if you will. A few of these changes include: Kai and Taehyun being fifth years, Soobin and Beomgyu being in the sixth year, and Yeonjun in the seventh. 
> 
> Secondly, I hope you've realised that I've finally put a number of chapters on this story now. Thirteen more chapters to go! That's because, and I can't believe I'm saying this, I finally finished the plot outline in all its glory. Granted, I'm pretty sure I'll be making more changes as I write it out but WOW! I can't wait to show all of you the twist and turns of teenage angst!! Okay, I've kept you long enough. Please enjoy this chapter!! <3

Hogwarts was old. Its age was embedded in every framed portrait on its walls, in its whimsical flickering oil lamps, and in its chipped fawn flagstones shunned in the occasional hallway corner. Everything around him felt so mystical he would almost feel out of place if it weren’t for his uniform. 

The headmistress was a new...character. Not once had he ever met a person who had carried the heavy burdens of authority with grace, though he supposed she had been around for a particularly long time for a witch that it was just a given for her to be like that. 

“So, what do you think?”

Yeonjun’s voice yanked him from his thoughts. Kai gathered himself and met the Head Boy’s eyes. “Of what?”

Yeonjun steered them into a left turn. The hallways they stalked through before seemed like the neck of a bottle compared to this vast one. Each corner was lit by a cauldron of flames perched atop a thick marble beam, forming a chalice of light. As they ventured further into the castle, Kai’s blood rushed back to his frosty fingertips and only then did he realise how chilly he had felt in front of the headmistress. 

“The castle.” Yeonjun reaffirmed. They took a turn to the right. At the end of the hallway was another arc. “The headmistress… whatever you’ve seen so far.”

“It’s.... charming.” Was that the right word? Kai couldn’t really compress every snippet of his thoughts on the school into one sentence, he’d have to go on for years. Kai bit his bottom lip and smiled sheepishly at the Head. “And old.”

Yeonjun stifled a laugh after a moment’s pause then he spoke again once they walked through the archway. “I actually do feel sorry for you, mate. A first year’s welcome is always the highlight of the year. That and the house cup.”

“Is that like some sort of competition?” Kai questioned, furrowing his brows. 

“I guess you could call it that, yes. Basically the four houses-- you know, Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff--” Kai nodded along and Yeonjun resumed as they traipsed down a grand staircase which led them to a vast hall. “--all compete for the house cup. The winning house doesn’t really get a...prize, let’s say. But it’s always good to have that recognition when the flags in the Grand Hall get charmed into your house colour.”

Kai bit his lip. A girl in black robes and a green tie walked past them, Yeonjun waved.

“And how do you win?” Kai asked, inching closer. 

Yeonjun ushered him up another stairwell, a miniature version of the one they had stepped on last. “By earning house points. Each time you’ve earned merit in class for participation or exceptional work, you’ll get your house points which will be immediately placed in a tally that gets counted each day. But the house points can also be taken away if you get in trouble. You know, basic causes and consequences stuff… Believe me, it’s not worth it. I would know.”

A competition for merit? Kai felt dazed. The school felt like all of his fantasies came to life and greeted him in a castle. If all he had to do was study hard to get praise, he was ready to start the year right then and there. He wondered if they had a ranking system on their students as they do on the houses and how he would place if they did have one. He has never been this excited since… well, ever.

They entered what appeared to be the centre of the castle. Yeonjun halted his steps to peer over the half-walls. Kai trailed along beside him and jerked away when he saw layers upon layers of stairs shifting almost mechanically in complete disorder. There were no logical explanations for such mechanisms because when Kai gathered the courage to peer down, he saw the stairs looked to be of the same material as the walls and that, he knew, was no machine. When he squinted his eyes, Kai saw a group of students patiently wait for a stairwell to swing their way before they got on with their conversation as they walked downstairs. 

“No. No way, haha. Is there another way around?” 

“Nope!” Yeonjun grinned beside him. “This is the absolute best thing at Hogwarts. This and when it’s tanking out! Rowena Ravenclaw charmed the Grand Staircase of the castle so that they were constantly moving. Like, all the time. And there’s a geet wella chance you’ll get tricked by them. I ‘eard a third-year Gryffindor nearly fell from the seventh floor cause one of the steps disappeared… He was absolutely offit when they found him. Ha! But it’s mad fun, you know? There are so many ways you could take to reach one place, it’s almost like a mind teaser.”

Kai peered down at the Grand Staircase once more. There was no grit that fell aimlessly down like snow, Kai stuck one lean arm out and caught nothing. Each staircase was carved in calculative precision-- lightyears better than anything Da Vinci mustered. 

He thinned his lips. “A puzzle.”

“Yeah! Exactly,” Yeonjun exclaimed, eyes bright with glee. The boy took his hand and dragged them along. “What better way for you to get Hogwarts’ best than actually using the Grand Staircase, now come on! In three… Jump!”

They flew across the air and landed on a moving staircase with a big THUMP. Kai had barely gotten off his knees when Yeonjun yanked him along and ran up the staircase. Now, Kai was not the most athletic, he knew that. This, however, just proved to him exactly how inept he was at fitness. He hoped Hogwarts didn’t have a PE class like the ones he had that one time he was allowed to attend public school before they expelled him. 

Once they made it to the top of the stairwell, they were a floor higher than where they were initially. They stepped on a platform and immediately clambered up another set of stairs, then jumped halfway to a spinning one. They went up, down, left, and right and Kai thought to himself what a wondrous but extremely taxing puzzle the Hogwarts’ Grand Staircase was. They jumped down once more to land on the ledge of a stationary staircase. He bolted the second he saw a steady platform and scrambled for purchase on a supporting beam. They finally made it to the ground floor.

When he caught his breath, a strained laugh escaped him. It grew and grew in volume until his lungs hurt and his ribs ached. He crouched over and wheezed into his hands. Yeonjun stared at him from above, a wide smile painted on his face. Steadying himself, Kai managed to get back up on his feet.

“That was so cool,” he gushed. “But tiring! Do all students just run around like that all the time?”

Yeonjun guffawed and pat his shoulder. “Sort of. Calmer, I’d say. I just wanted you to see how these stairs were meant to be used. Now, come on, I’d better get you to the Ravenclaw table before the ceremony starts.”

The grounds were filled with students of robes in different colours, and Kai was entranced. He had thought each house would stay within their own dorms and form small exclusive clusters of them during the day but was pleasantly surprised when he saw it was the complete opposite. Herds of students, all donned mismatched ties of green and red or yellow and blue, lined the entrance. Yeonjun was quick on his feet and sidestepped around the crowd with ease as though he had done it hundreds of times before. 

And perhaps he had, Kai reminded himself. It was Yeonjun’s last year after all. 

A hand reached out from the faceless ocean and Kai stepped back when he saw it grip Yeonjun’s robe and tugged him backwards. The boy stumbled on his feet before he turned. Yeji stood apart from the rest of the students, her brows pinched in the centre and her usually straight lips were heavily downturned.

“What’s wrong?” Yeonjun asked immediately. Kai huddled in as to make space for the other students passing by. Yeji didn’t even spare him a glance, her entire focus was on the Head Boy. 

“There was a first-year missing. Hagrid’s told all the heads but we still can’t find him. The Hufflepuffs are meant to be great seekers but even they’re lost. Please, you're the best wizard we know. We need your help.”

Yeonjun blinked as his jaw fell. “I can’t. Headmistress McGonagall asked me to take Kai to Ravenclaw.”

“He can find the table himself. Right, Kai?” Yeji turned to face him and her sharp eyes pinned him to his spot. Kai felt like there were a right and a wrong answer. He really wanted Yeonjun to show him but if there was a whole student missing then he would have to relent.

“Yeah. Course...”

Yeonjun snapped his head back to him. His face was tight. “Are you sure, Kai? If you’re not, I can quickly get you there and help Yeji after...”

Kai faced the Head Boy. His once bright eyes were dim. There was a simmer of selfishness in him but he squashed it in the next heartbeat. Sure, he would be much more comfortable if Yeonjun accompanied him, but it wasn’t like he couldn’t find his own way around the castle. He’d have to learn the castle’s passageways if classes start the next morning. Besides, there were students with ties that matched his that trailed about and he bet if he could just follow them he’d be well on his way. Kai didn’t have a brain to accessorise. 

“Yes, it’s just down this way, right?”

“Yeah. Keep going until you reach the Great Hall and then it’s the first table to your left. Look for the blue robes!” Yeonjun stretched out an arm to prod at the navy tie which rested on his chest.

“Look for the blue. Got it.” Kai sent him a reassuring smile and Yeonjun stepped away. “Good luck!”

The two of them headed south after Yeonjun waved goodbye. Kai sighed. It was just him and his wit, as always. He pressed on through the crowd until he reached the end of the corridor. There, the hall split into two directions. Kai chewed his inner cheek. If most of these were returning students, which they looked like since they were in no rush to attend the welcome feast and appeared much older than the first years he saw trod off the train, then they would most likely know where things were. He should probably ask them. Kai bit his lip, fearing the worst, but he squashed it down almost instantly. Progress.

In the corner of the hall, stood alone a fair young girl.  _ Hufflepuff. _ Yellow crest. Kai made his way to her and jerked when he bumped into a stiff chest. He cringed inside, what trouble has he gotten himself into now! 

“Hey, watch where you’re going!”

Kai felt his eye twitch. He bristled. Then, with a ferocity unknown to himself, he sneered, “I could say the same to you.”

The stranger laughed haughtily and Kai took the time to peer down to see the inside of his robe’s hood to be a stark cherry colour.  _ Gryffindor _ . Beomgyu  _ did _ warn him about how abrasive they could be. Kai stood his ground and angled his chin up to face him only to have the stranger tilt his head backwards, creating even more distance between the two of them. He saw a peek of bunny teeth before the stranger’s grin died.

“You are brave,” he said with an odd modality in his voice, “I have never seen you around before. New student?”

Kai blinked and was about to form a reply when the boy clapped his hands together. “Yes! Right? You’re the…” he mumbled to himself. “What was that word... the transfer-ee? What is your name?”

“Huening Kai?”

“That’s the one!” The boy grabbed him by the shoulders and gave him a firm squeeze. “Welcome! Oh! The sorting! You got Ravenclaw, that’s cute!” 

It was like a conversation with a radio host, but a foreign one. He felt scrutinised but praised simultaneously and it was disorienting. The boy’s ears were red, but his lips were pulled upwards into a beaming grin, even his features were a juxtaposition. Kai wondered if he was actually an extrovert or if he had to force it. Either way, Kai wanted it to stop.

“Yeah. Um. I’m sorry, but I didn’t catch your name.”

“Oh! Right!” The boy laughed again. Kai didn’t think he had said anything funny, but he remained quiet. “It’s Soobin. Choi Soobin. I’m a sixth year. Nice to meet you!” 

Why did that name sound familiar? Kai hummed and thought of how to respond but he didn’t have to for Soobin had already regained the reigns of their chat.

“It’s so nice to finally meet someone else who transferred. No one knows what it’s really like. Right?”

_ Oh _ . Choi Soobin. The one who wasn’t  _ friendly  _ with Yeonjun and whose opinions were… less agreeable.  _ That _ Choi Soobin. Kai hadn’t realised the sort of opportunity he had just stumbled upon and he was ready to seize it.

“You’re a transfer as well?”

Choi Soobin blinked at him with his oddly large eyes then gave him another grin. “Yep! I moved four years ago. You look really old for a second year. Unless… you had to redo? I’m really sorry if that’s true! I didn’t mean to offend you!”

Kai had to physically reach for him so he could stop the boy from babbling his life away in panic. “Hey, no, it’s fine.” He grabbed the boy’s shoulders firmly before he gently released them. When Soobin’s gleaming eyes met his own, Kai wondered how someone so...conscientious--if that was even the word-- could be so unkind to someone like Yeonjun.

“Okay. I’m sorry. My mum says I get...um...flustered easily.”

“No worries.” Kai dusted off his robes. “I’m a fifth year, by the way.”

Soobin perked up once more, his red tie swayed above his chest. “You’re only a year younger than me! Wait a second… Why are you alone? No escorts?”

“Oh. Well, my friend had an emergency to attend to. There’s a first-year missing so I said I could find the table myself while he helps out. It’s not a big deal, don’t worry.”

“That’s, um, weird! It’s okay though! I’ll show you the way since you had an  _ incompetent _ student,” Soobin whispered it as  _ eeng-comm-pay-ted _ to him and winked. Kai turned away. “Don’t tell anyone. I think that some students don’t deserve to be here. But, I’m not the head of school, right? Just jokes!”

Kai joined in Soobin’s laughter with reluctance. He couldn’t tell if the boy truly meant what he was saying and he couldn’t figure out which group he was referring to. Could he mean half-bloods like Kai? Is this what Yeonjun meant when he told Kai of Soobin’s… difficultness? Kai forced himself to stay in the present. If he wanted to use Soobin to get around and make a connection with him as a friend, he couldn’t appear too suspicious.

Soobin turned in his spot and made his way down the right corridor. Kai silently followed. The walk down to wherever this feast was held was a short one. Soobin wasn’t as enthusiastic about the school tour as Yeonjun had been. The two of them walked in silence with Soobin’s occasional greetings to one of his classmates. It wasn’t awkward and Kai didn’t mind the extra time given to let his eyes roam the castle and, cheekily, the boy next to him.

There was something about Soobin that didn’t sit right with Kai. It wasn’t an ominous foretelling or anything, but he felt his insides churn whenever their eyes met and he couldn’t tear his gaze away from the set of lips that glimmered under the candlelight. The boy’s mispronunciations were endearing. Kai trekked his eyes down the turn of the boy’s auspicious nose, then followed the shallow slope above his lips. Questions crowded his head once more but he knew one thing for certain. Soobin was traditionally good-looking. Kai felt his cheeks heat up and forced his thoughts to leave him.

In these parts of Hogwarts, beauty was in abundance. The slopes of the arcs which supported the corridor’s ceiling were incredibly detailed and there were shadows of candle flickers with no candle to be found. He kept these bursts of excitement inwards, unsure as to how Soobin would take to it if Kai’s assumptions about his blood purity mindset were true. Try as he might, he couldn’t help himself to ask when they came across a hallway lined with paintings. Paintings that moved. 

“Soobin,” he gushed. “They move?”

The boy slowed his steps and watched Kai’s pointed arm. “The paintings?” he asked. When Kai nodded the boy grinned. “Not just moving. Look.”

Soobin grabbed his wrist and dragged Kai until they were right in front of a grand painting. Framed was a picturesque hill and cottage where Kai could spot an elderly figure seated in a rocking chair that swayed back and forth as a gentle breeze blew the lower strands of her hair around. Then, without warning, the figure stood up and after a bent of their head, stalked closer and closer until Kai saw the elderly woman, dressed similarly to the headmistress but not quite, looking down at him. 

“What’s it to ya?!” she shrieked. “Can’t a witch get some peace and quiet before a new year starts? Merlin, save me!” 

Soobin laughed. “I’m sorry, Grand Sorceress Winget. My friend is new.”

“Yer darn kids never learn,” she chastised, pointing her wand at the sky. “Well, can I  _ help  _ ya or are y’all just here to admire the view?”

Kai could only gasp out, “They’re alive.”

“Of feckin course, we are! What do ya take us fer? Hell, if this is what McGonaggal wanted me here fer I shoulda jumped the gun and left.” The woman shook her head before she skulked back inside her cottage, slamming the doors. Kai could still hear the echo of it and felt a slow smile crawl onto his face 

“That’s insane!”

“No, it’s Charms.”

“No, it’s insane!”

“Kai,” Soobin laughed. He draped an arm around Kai and inched him forwards. “We need to go. We can see more paintings after the feast.”

Kai couldn’t even form a coherent sentence anymore. All he could think about was endless conversations with great historical figures immortalised by their paintings which he could have. He wondered if Harry Potter had his own painting, too.

Soobin sighed. “I hate exercise, Kai. I don’t want to drag you. Let’s go!”

The Great Hall was enlightened. Brighter than all the other rooms he had ever been in. And its ceiling was the endless night abyss,  _ charmed-- _ Soobin whispered to him when they entered. Kai stood there and made out the four tables Yeonjun spoke of earlier. He spotted the themed uniforms and their originating tables. And right, where Yeonjun said it’d be, was the Ravenclaw table. His table.

Kai turned to give Soobin his thanks, but the boy stopped him. “You need a perfect, right?” the boy reassured him over a shout. Kai could only nod, the abundance of chattering was deafening.

Soobin ushered him past the Gryffindors. He saw some of the students had turned their heads at him but was quickly distracted by the boy who pushed him. Some girls, too, went out of their way to greet him and Kai could only cower back and watch Soobin charm--not the magical kind. The boyish smile and wink kind-- his way out of their grasp.

“Someone has a lot of admirers,” he noted. The boy beamed but Kai noticed the slight pink flush of his cheeks.

_ Not all gaudy then.  _ He thought to himself.

Soobin scratched the back of his hand. “Haha! I guess... Oh, wait… where’s Olius?”

“Olius?”

“Yes. Olius, Ravenclaw’s Head Boy. I mean, I guess I can always ask Emily but I don’t know where she is either.”

They’re in front of the Ravenclaw table now. At the very edge of the bench sat a couple of older-looking students, one even had a beard! They glance at Kai in passive interest before they went back to their conversation. Soobin was too busy scanning the room to notice the boy that approached them. 

“They’re both helping out with the missing first year.” The boy sported a matching navy tie.  _ Ravenclaw _ . Soobin made a startling noise but managed to school his features back into his usual charming self. The boy gave the two of them a once over. “You’re the new kid, right? I’m Kang Taehyun. Ravenclaw prefect. I can help.”

“Taehyun, of course.” Kai heard Soobin mutter under his breath before his shoulders jumped up in excitement. “Kai, look at that! New friend! Taehyun, how was your summer?” 

Taehyun merely gave Soobin a slight smile before he turned his attention to Kai.

“I... Okay. I’m Huening Kai, nice to meet you.”

“Pleasure’s all mine. You can come sit with me if you’d like. All my friends seem to have made themselves scarce.”

Kai gulped. He shot a questioning look at Soobin who gave him a thumbs-up and an enthusiastic wave before he walked away. Kai stared at him with wide eyes.  _ Stay _ , he pleaded in his head, but the boy had already turned around. Kai tore his gaze away and gave the prefect a curt nod. The boy gave him a brief smile before he took Kai to the middle of the bench where a well-sized gap was.

Like this, he was finally able to see the hundreds of students in his house. Some were still really short, maybe they could only reach up to his chest, and others he was sure would tower over him if they stood face-to-face. He watched them as he walked past and when he saw the hint of his own blue tie in the corner of his eye he realised that he was no longer just an observer. He belonged with them.

Taehyun stopped and sat down on the bench where a well-sized gap was then prompted Kai to do the same with a wave of his hand. The boy, stunned, sat down in silence as the conversations along the table consumed him.

“They usually bring in the first years in a few minutes,” Taehyun said. The comment pulled Kai back into this reality. “I think the missing first year is holding everything up. I’m sorry, by the way. I’ve never asked what year you were in.”

Kai looked at the skinny boy next to him. They were the same age, he was sure, but Taehyun was much smaller than him by default. Even his hood was a few inches short of Kai’s. He had a thin mop of chestnut hair that curtained his forehead rather neatly. Kai brushed down his own unruly set of wavy jet-black hair awkwardly.

“Oh. No, that’s okay. I’m a fifth year.”

“We must be classmates,” Taehyun hummed after a while. “That makes everything easier. How was your journey here? The train is kind of boring.”

“It was…interesting. I met the Slytherin Head Boy and Head Girl. They were nice.”

“You met Choi Yeonjun?”

“Yeah, you know him?”

Taehyun snapped his head to Kai and the boy flinched back before he straightened himself, unsure of what came over him. His new friend’s eyes darted around until they rested to the right, Kai tried his best to follow his gaze but he could only see the Gryffindor table at large.

“You met Choi Yeonjun and he let you befriend Choi Soobin?”

“Um. Yes?”

Taehyun huffed. “On Merlin, I thought those two would never make up.”

“What do you mean?”

“Did he not tell you?”

His mind conjured the memory of their walk into the side tower and Yeonjun’s hushed warnings. It was all just a difference in opinion, was it not? Why was everyone so on edge about him making friends with a Gryffindor student. He thought that all the house-wars ended with Harry Potter’s graduation or whatever they had here at Hogwarts. It was this exact kind of prejudice that whacked him in the face when he decided that the two worlds were not all that different after all.

Kai shook his head. “No, he didn’t. What happened?”

“Last year that Soobin boy tried to get Choi Yeonjun expelled. They had to do this whole trial in front of the board and everything!” Taehyun tapped the side of their bench before he met Kai’s eyes. “I heard word that his little brother Beomgyu, I think, got really upset and had to be suspended for the rest of the term because they caught him trying to hex Soobin. I wasn’t all too surprised, they come from a very strict family.”

“Wait, I don’t get it. Yeonjun’s family got involved?”

“Oh, no. Not officially, at least. I meant that their parents are very old-fashioned? Most Eastern families are. Even mine was until my parents moved here.”

“Wait, you’re part of the Eastern wizarding world?”

Taehyun nodded and when the doors to the Great Hall creaked open he scuttled closer to reply. “Yeah, but not so much anymore. Are you?”

“A bit, yeah.”

“Then you must know it’s crashing and burning,” Taehyun scoffed. “Beomgyu and Yeonjun’s family is one of the purest and oldest bloodlines in the East. There are high stakes to be lost if the two of them got in trouble here. Even slight wind of them getting suspended, for example, could bring chaos. So I bet they did some discrete arrangements so none of the brothers would face public punishment.”

“So, wait. Beomgyu isn’t suspended?”

“Nope. I’d say he’s on probation, right now. No one really knows what happened between them even though it’s been a year since then.”

Their conversation fell short after that. With the doors to the Great Hall wide open, Kai surveyed the litter of new students trickle in. They huddled close together, Kai thought they resembled more like sardines than witches or wizards. But he understands. Even though he was at the big age of fifteen, the Great Hall possessed a grandness to it that swallowed him whole. It made him insignificant amongst the hundreds of students sitting along the four benches. The new students peered up and he followed suit before he stopped in awe of the stars that sparkled across the ceiling, a perfect imitation of the night sky.

“Charms,” Kai whispered to himself as Soobin had done. Beside him, Taehyun kept his eyes on the new students until they stopped in front of the Head Table where the Headmistress waited in front of a wooden podium. To her left, on a wooden chair, was the ratty hat Kai had put on merely an hour earlier. The Sorting Ceremony proceeded with less grandeur than he had expected, save for the lengthy and rather pitchy song the Sorting Hat sung about its own ceremony. Other than that, it was exactly the same to the one he received except for the claps that thundered as the announcements were made. 

His mind flashed to the Slytherin Head Boy and he wondered if this meant that he and Yeji were back. Kai followed the line of green to his left and scanned the table for his friend and he only stopped once he found the familiar mop of black hair. Yeonjun sat at the very head of the table opposite to Yeji, Beomgyu nowhere near him.

It still shocked him that Beomgyu could be anything but an aloof prick, but he supposed family called for different facades, ones that a mere stranger like himself was not privy to. He pivoted in his seat and looked across to the Gryffindor table. What happened between them? Was it connected to the prophecy? And if it was, was it connected to him? 

Taehyun nudged his side and Kai dragged his eyes away from the red and gold to meet the boy’s expectant stare.

“I think the heads are back. We should go meet them before we eat.”

“Right. Before we...” A feast appeared in front of him out of thin air. Kai gasped. “What!”

“Hufflepuff’s magic,” Taehyun waved off. “Now come on. I see Olius there. It’ll just be a minute.”

Kai let himself be pried away from the delicious sight of a complete English roast, pies, and even dessert! It lined the entire bench and when Kai turned to check the other tables, they were all gifted with the exact replications of the buffet on the Ravenclaw table. Just like them, there were hills of cakes and tapestries. Bowls on bowls of exotic fruits he hadn’t even seen in his life. The students around him dug in with no shame, all of them chatted away with mouthfuls of food and Kai had to make sure he doesn’t drool onto his new robes.

Taehyun dragged him to the head of the table. Kai saw two students, much older than himself, stand up as if they were expecting him. One boy, Olius he assumed, had a full face of freckles and stark blonde hair. The girl next to him smiled at Kai with a thick set of pink lips and jet-black eyes, her afro hair glinted in the candlelight with the mini gems she had carefully placed in it. 

The heads’ robes were wrinkled and dusty in certain areas and Kai saw the girl jerk in realisation before she whipped out her wand and cleaned the dust marks off her and Olius.

“Hi,” Olius said with a laugh after the girl stashed away her wand. “I’m Olius and this is Emily. We’re the Head Students of Ravenclaw this year. It’s so nice to meet you, I hope your transfer has gone swimmingly so far.” 

Olius extended an arm and Kai reached out to shake it, he dropped it only when Olius retracted his arm. Emily grabbed at his hand before he could fully rest it by his side and shook it with fervour, Kai forced a smile and contained his bristle. He hated to be manhandled.

“I heard Taehyun’s been taking care of you! He’s such a good prefect. I bet he’ll make an even better head,” she gushed. Taehyun genuinely grinned and Kai almost stared at him in shock. “Please, don’t hesitate to come to ask us if you need anything. Or the prefects, Taehyun and Anaya Mohan.”

_ Prefects  _ and _ heads,  _ he scoffed. Kai had no mind for titles and hierarchy. He only craved to know the best and that was it. 

“Yeah, he’s good,” Kai replied. Emily beamed and proceeded to gush about Taehyun as if he were her own son until Olius dragged her back and apologised on her behalf. 

“Have you had the chance to meet our Head of House?” Emily asked after another giggling fit. Kai kept wondering how many distinct characters he would meet in his house. He thought that Ravenclaw, who were stereotypically witty, would be more reserved. Like Taehyun. But he supposed your values shouldn’t determine your personality. 

Kai shook his head. “No, but I’ve met the Headmistress.”

“Oh, Professor McGonagall,” hummed Olius. He shared a look with Emily and her smile nearly slipped away, “Yeah! She’s great.”

“Yeah… Wait, there was a missing student, right? Did you find them?”

Olius’ light green eyes grew hooded and his voice dropped an octave. The smile he pulled scared Kai more than it did relieve him. “Yes,” he said. 

Taehyun clapped his hands then, and Kai nearly jerked in his spot. “Kai hasn’t eaten. I think we’ll go back to our seat now.”

“Oh! Of course, yes, please,” Emily ushered them, her carefree smile on show once more. “Remember, Kai. Never be scared to ask us anything.” She sent him another gentle smile and slipped her arm onto the gap between Olius’ own and his side before the two sat back down on the bench. 

Taehyun turned after waiting for a second and trudged back to their seat. Kai fixed his stare into the mountains of dishes on the bench and was surprised to see that, in the time they were gone, the students had not yet managed to create a dent in it whatsoever. Taehyun walked stiffly beside him and Kai wondered if he should ask him then about the weird looks or if he should keep to himself. He decided against it, knowing full well that most people tend to forget about minor glances in passing days. 

“That was weird,” he started. Taehyun’s steps remained on-beat, the boy simply hummed in question. “The part about Professor McGonagall.”

Taehyun’s silence spoke for itself. At least they were near the small gap of their seats on the bench now. Kai watched the boy sling one leg over the ebony bench before the other and plopped down, his black robes pooling behind him. When Kai hesitated, Taehyun pats his seat. 

“I’ll tell you if you sit.”

Kai followed the order mindlessly. When he turned to face the boy, Taehyun had already started piling food upon his plate. “So?” Kai pushed. 

“Power is poisonous. It corrupts even the most innocent and level-headed of people.”

Kai waited expectantly then he threw his arms up and slapped his knees. “That’s it?”

Taehyun looked back at him and nodded once and waved his fork at Kai before he started eating. Kai slumped. He eyed the monstrous glob of turkey in front of him and stabbed its leg before he brought it over to his plate. He then surveyed his left and scooped a hefty mound of roast potatoes on his plate before trying Taehyun again. 

“Olius and Emily... are they, like, a thing?” Kai asked.

“Yeah. Been dating for a long time now. Emily was my tutor for Charms in the first year and she has been watching over me since. Can you pass me the gravy?”

Kai huffed before he passed the gravy to the prefect. His stomach groaned and he looked down at his miserable plate of turkey potatoes.  _ Whatever _ , he thought. He’ll try again another day. For now, he’ll stuff his face with glorious food and bask in the warmth of the feast. 

After the Grand Feast, the Headmistress dismissed everyone with strict notice of forbidden floors and the Forbidden Forest to the new students then they were all on their way like herds of sheep led by their respective heads. Kai didn’t mind it. He enjoyed taking the back seat and following a crowd. It gave him another opportunity to marvel at the castle’s beauty. And boy, were there plenty. The Ravenclaw Tower was located at the West Wing of the castle, quite a trek from the Great Hall and the Gate House. Kai felt as though his legs were about to fall off from the amount of walking he has had to do since Namjoon bid him goodbye. They climbed through copious staircases and walked through as many arches and wooden doors. 

When they made it to the Ravenclaw Tower, they marched along a few more flights of stairs until they reached an opening. It was a garden, but one glance at the corridor’s open arches around it told him that they were extremely elevated. Olius and Emily led them past the garden, through another set of doors until they were finally met with a gargantuan Eagle head door knocker. As the group neared, it craned its neck towards them and Kai’s steps faltered when the bird pierced him with its beady eyes and asked, “I am the beginning of everything, the end of everywhere. I’m the beginning of eternity, the end of time and space. What am I?”

His heart thundered in his chest. If Kai was close enough, he was sure the Eagle could eat him up alive. He waited until Olius stepped forward and held the Eagle’s gaze with a confident one. 

“The letter ‘e’,” he stated. Around him, a few of the new students murmured amongst themselves as Kai keenly watched. 

The Eagle’s brows furrowed before it let out a deep groan. “Correct. Enter.”

The wooden door swung open and a wave of students stepped back to make way before Emily led them inside a warm, silvery room. Kai eyed Taehyun and the boy was not even the least bit impressed. He guessed having seen the same thing every day made it dull. Kai hoped he could be up to speed with everything. When he finally stepped foot into the room, Kai bit his lip to stifle his awe. 

Ravenclaw’s common room was astounding. It was just as tall as the Headmistress’ offices and just as expansive. It was airy and...freeing. The ceilings were tall and there were broad arches and even a central library which melded with the stairwell. The walls were covered with blue and bronze banners of various exotic patterns, some even hung down from the ceilings. The architecture as a whole screamed very  _ Greek _ to him and Kai felt ripped from reality and taken back to the summer he and his family went to see the Acropolis of Athens. He stood in front of its ruins and raked his eyes all over the surrounding scaffoldings, the large stretch of the city below it, and the endless blue sky. 

“Look, baby,” his mother had told him then, her soothing hands rubbing his small shoulders. “This was where geniuses used to hang out.” 

“Can I hang out here then? You always tell me I’m a genius,” ten-year-old Kai huffed, sick of sweating under the Greek sun. She smiled and ruffled his hair before she reached into her bag for a cap and fitted it on him. 

“Not now, baby. You’ll find your own place.”

Olius and Emily took turns to list off the rules of the dorms, breakfast times, light-outs and Kai zoned out. The Feast had started settling into his body and he felt himself getting drowsier by the minute. The crackling fireplace to his left did not relieve him of his tiredness whatsoever and he feared he might actually faint himself into a dreamless sleep. Kai pinched himself.  _ This _ was no time to sleep! He still needed to figure out his bedding, his luggage, and who he might be sharing his room with. If he were sharing it to begin in the first place. He looked around for his luggage, trying his best to remain inconspicuous behind the slightly taller students. 

He felt someone nudge his side and Kai winced before he looked and found Taehyun furrowing his brows at him. “What are you looking for?”

“My bags,” he whispered back.

“They’re probably up in your room. They’ll let you go in a bit and we can go up and see where you’ll be staying.”

Kai bit his lip and nodded. He needed to stay awake! But he was so tired. Waiting was actually dreadful, he decided. He let his eyes roam around the Common Room and tried his best to read a few of the book spines by the library, he even squinted his eyes but failed. There were so many and Kai wondered how long it would take for him to read them all. 

“And that’s about all there is to it,” he heard Emily announce at the front. Her voice was bright and cheerful, Kai felt himself sag in relief now that they were allowed to leave. “Boys, go ahead and take the right shelf and the ladies, your left. Thank you!” 

“Come on,” Taehyun said. The prefect followed the line of students now crowding the library and Kai observed in interest as a first-year pulled on a green book and revealed a secret stairwell. There were audible gasps of awe in the front and Kai saw Taehyun roll his eyes. One by one, the boys and girls started to disappear into their respective staircases. They climbed and climbed until they found a door with their names on it. 

Each room was round and theirs were no different. Five mini caverns were carved into the walls and each cavern was complete with a lantern, a bed, and a small wardrobe. Everything was in its respective shades of blue. The drapes were a deep navy and the bedding were a mixture of azure and sky blue.It was spacious and had arched windows above each bed, providing them with a fantastic view of the vast school grounds below. In the cavern closest to the door, Kai found his luggage.

“Well, look at that,” Taehyun huffed from the cavern next to his. “It’s fate.”

There were three other boys in the room. One was a tall, lanky ginger boy whose uniform looked like it was wearing him than the other way around. Another had the broadest chest in the room and a bulbous body attached, complete with a set of bushy eyebrows. He smiled at Kai sheepishly from across the room and the boy waved back. The last boy had a head of long and lustrous silver hair that reached just below his elbows. He had quick amber eyes and spared no one a second glance. 

Taehyun was busy unpacking his bags by his bed and Kai began to do the same. A second later, he heard the prefect call out, “I’ll show you the showers if you’re ready.”

“Yeah, just... give me a second. I can’t find my towel…”

The bathroom was located on the lowest floor of the Ravenclaw Tower. There were three separate doors to go through. There was one specifically for boys, another for girls on the East end, and right in the middle was a gender-neutral bathroom. Kai hummed to himself, half-impressed that at least the wizarding world, at this twenty-first century, was not that far behind in sexuality and gender linguistics.

Taehyun walked straight to the Western door and Kai followed suit. What greeted him was a divine room with ceiling waterfalls behind an assortment of ceramic grey sinks and mirrors aligned in a crescent, each facing a separate shower room. The entire floor was covered in small azure tiles, barely a centimetre squared in area each. It gleamed under the stray beam of moonlight that shone from the high window which was aligned with the waterfall projectors.

The warm water that hit him felt like a massage and Kai felt his stress dissolve and wash away like the sweat off his body. They didn’t stay there for too long. Taehyun warned him that a long shower at night might keep him up and they were to wake up at six tomorrow to get ready. The room was dark by the time he got back. He looked through his luggage and realised that Ceres was missing. Kai tiptoed to his neighbour, who was, thankfully, still awake and reading a book under his blanket with a lighting charm. 

“Taehyun,” he whispered.

“What?” the boy whispered back. 

“I was just, um, wondering… where did my owl go?” 

Taehyun dropped his book and poked his head out of his covers. “Of course you brought an owl. It must be in the Owlery, like all the other owls. Why?”

“Oh. I wanted to send something… but it’s okay. I’ll go find it.”

“No, don’t worry. I’ve got an afternoon patrol around that area. I’ll bring it. Just give it to me tomorrow and tell me what your owl’s name is.”

Kai’s eyes widened in the dark. “Oh, okay. Thanks.”

“Yeah, yeah. Now, go to sleep. Please.”

“Okay, okay,” Kai laughed breathlessly.

He crept in bed, cautious of even the smallest movements and breathed a sigh of relief once he made it in and the rest of the boys remained unaware. He shifted around until he found his writing utensils and some paper he managed to snag off his room before he left. He set the quill and ink on top of the chiffonnier, which was within reach from his bed and set to work.

Quickly, he scribbled down the words in the moonlight that leaked from the window above him before he let the ink set. Kai folded the paper into thirds and neatly tucked it into another piece of paper he had made into an envelope. Satisfied with his handiwork, he dipped the quill one last time into his pot of ink and wrote down the address and Ceres’ name for good measure before he stretched to put the envelope on top of his small wardrobe, just a few inches away from his quill. He looked at the distant moon and wondered if his family were already in bed and finally rested his head on the pillow. 

_ Hello Namjoon, _

__

_ I’ve been sorted into Ravenclaw and I’ve made a few friends. _

__

_ Apparently news about the prophecy has made its way to this corner of the world and I’ve found people who are part of the few families actively trying to be part of it. _

__

_ I haven’t told them what you’ve told me. I think it’s best that I don’t. _

__

_ I hope you’re doing well. Do reply back. _

__

_ Sincerest regards, _

_ Kai _

__


	6. Rainfall

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A weekly update, as promised! Thank you to JC (cathwaite) who has done an amazing job at proofing this chapter as always! Oh, and Eid Mubarak to everyone who celebrates x Enjoy.

Kai was never an early riser, but today was different. He stretched his toes and felt around for the edge of his covers before he flipped them over until only his legs were covered by them. It was silent, but not eerie in the slightest. With a grunt, Kai sat up and blinked. He spared a glance around the room. For the most part, everything was drowned in the darkness from the night before, but the sun’s warm tendrils swam into their room from Kai’s window, illuminating the specks of dust that filtered in its pathway.

Kai picked out the nasty eye crusts that formed overnight until he could finally blink without feeling like his eye would pop out of its socket. His eyes landed on the makeshift envelope on top of the cider-finish chiffonier and his scraggly handwriting. He debated, with great reluctance, whether he should send one to his home in Chiswick, but he didn’t know if he would be able to handle not receiving a reply. 

He swung his legs over the bed until they could find the slides Namjoon parted him with. They were cute purple ones with a glittery sheen over the elastic joint and Kai felt himself giggle despite the hecticness of yesterday at the thought of his first meeting with the man. His owl version, of course. 

There was a deep sigh from his right and Kai craned his neck to peer into the bed next to his. In a cot identical to his lay the Ravenclaw house’s prefect, Kang Taehyun. It was difficult to picture that this boy was in charge of patrolling duties when in sleep he resembled more of a troublemaker than a rule enforcer. Taehyun’s legs were pointed in opposite directions, his left leg was edging off the bed while his right was completely off of it. His arms were no different, the two of his limbs were sprawled wayward across the mattress and Kai wondered how he hadn’t woken himself up all night from sporting such a terrible sleeping position. And by God, that _hair!_ When they met, Taehyun had kept his carob locks in a perfect quiff. Maybe it was gel this whole time? _Or a gelling charm_ , Kai thought. For now, every single strand of his hair looked to be heading in every direction possible. 

Kai stepped back mutedly when Taehyun kicked his left foot into the air while simultaneously stretching his arms. 

“Jesus,” Kai whispered. He pivoted on the ball of his foot and scanned the rest of his roommates. Sleeping directly across from him on the other side of the room’s entrance, was the tall ginger boy. Slight wisps of his hair peeked out from under the duvet and Kai had to stifle a laugh when the boy kept pulling the blanket over his head. On his chiffonier was a cluster of framed photographs. Kai crept up slowly, mindful of any sound he made. As he got closer, he realised all of the photos were moving. Just like the portraits! Kai wished he had a photo of his sisters to look back on but willed the thought away to examine the photos closer. 

One frame, on the very right of the chiffonier, pictured a pale, broad man who was hairless except for the lengthy ginger beard that ran down his chin and reached the middle of his chest. He had one bulky arm around a petite woman, who was smiling sweetly at the camera, her auburn hair tied up in an angelic halo braid with a few strands that stuck out and swayed in the wind. She wore a flowery cardigan, but not much could be said of its colour since the entire photo was sepia-toned. In the middle of them stood Kai’s roommate. He was considerably smaller than now, and Kai wondered how long ago the picture was taken. The boy in the photograph grinned up at Kai and a heavy sense of unease washed over him before he stalked off. 

The next boy had nothing on his chiffonier except for his Ravenclaw scarf, but when Kai trailed his eyes up he saw the boy’s wand perched on the small nook below the window. This boy’s wand was far longer than Kai’s and curved in the most strenuous fashion, Kai thought it might break at the slightest bend. It was dark in colour, almost like an earthy umber. The boy slept peacefully in his bed, his bushy eyebrows were lax and he slept like a log.

“What are you doing?” 

Kai jolted in his spot and he felt himself a few seconds away from a scream before a small pale hand shut his mouth forcibly. He clammored to get his bearings and flickered his eyes until he could see an unruly head of hair. Kai relaxed almost instantly even if Taehyun’s glare was nothing short of lethal. 

“I’m gonna ask again, what were you doing?” the prefect hissed at him. Perhaps, if he had showered and gone back to his default look, Kai would’ve felt a shudder of fear. But looking down at him now, it was difficult to not laugh. Taehyun looked like a sulky ten-year-old boy and Kai was instantly reminded of Cassa, his youngest sister, and her wild tantrums when their mother would deprive her of sweets as punishment. 

Kai offered the boy a sheepish grin but the prefect was not amused. He crossed one arm over the other and started to tap his foot, Kai thought he looked like a classic TV-librarian. 

“I was just bored,” Kai explained lowly. “And I didn’t know what else to do.”

Taehyun rolled his eyes heavenward. “Get ready? _Shower_? Read, maybe?”

Kai blinked at him. They stood in the middle of the circular room, both in their nightwear. Taehyun kept his eyes on Kai for a second longer before the boy huffed and pointed at the redheaded boy’s bed. 

“That’s Finnick Hillsenry, he’s Ravenclaw’s Seeker. You do know Quidditch, don’t you?” At Kai’s empty stare the prefect shook his head and tutted. “Nevermind. You’ll know it soon enough. Then… that’s Blaise Spudmore. His entire academic career is around Quidditch, I’ll explain later. Wouldn’t be surprised if he grew up to be the Minister of Magical Games and sports, I’m tellin’ you… He and Finnick are best friends. Naturally. And that...”

The two of them turned to face the last boy. “That’s Alder. He’s a Malfoy,” Taehyun trailed off spookily. Kai stared at him in question. He never wanted the others to know how inept and clueless he was in this world, but at times he couldn’t exactly help it. If he needed to know, he needed to know. “Draco Malfoy’s grandson. You know, the guy who had it out for Potter and whose dad was like… a Death Eater.”

“A what?” Kai whispered dubiously. 

On his bed, Alder shifted and the two boys froze. His long hair was carefully draped over his pillow and his ivory skin almost glimmered in the darkness. There were no photos on his chiffonier or his wand displayed in all its extravagance. There was nothing to his part of the room and, perhaps, nothing to him. When the boy stopped groaning and settled in bed once more, Kai turned to face his friend but Taehyun had already taken several deep strides and was now bent over his trunk under his bed. Kai scuttled forwards and watched him grab his toiletries. 

“I’ve given you enough,” he said. His eyebrows were pinched into the centre of his face. He closed his trunk and faced Kai. “Let’s get ready, okay? The showers get awfully clogged up in ten minutes when these lot get up.”

Kai didn’t stare back at Alder in his bed or the other boys. He silently picked up the toiletries he stashed in the uppermost right drawer of his chiffonier and followed Taehyun out. 

The showers were quiet. It was mildly foggy as if a few boys had already gone down before them. The shower stalls were separated by three thick ceramic walls finished with the same tiling as the floor and a door. Kai could faintly hear the muted sounds of Taehyun’s shower a few stalls away. He wondered what time it was and how the wizarding world told time. There was no way they’d still be into sundials, right? Kai let out a heavy sigh as he felt the water finally trickle past the thick canopy of his hair and onto his scalp. 

He hastily rubbed soap all over his skin then went under the water for a final rinse before towelling off and sliding into his underwear. He supposed there were some drying charms to expel the water from the shower place but he couldn’t think of any. Carefully, he got dressed in the stall and walked out with his toiletries. Taehyun was already by the sink, gurgling a mouthful of water when they made eye contact in the mirror. 

“Gah,” he spat out the last bits of toothpaste before he turned around and looked at Kai’s hair. “You haven’t dried yourself off?”

Kai stood around, suddenly anxious. “Um, no?”

“Where even _is_ your wand?” Taehyun questioned. Not peevish, just curious but Kai didn’t like the way the boy was moving onto him. Kai stepped back and that was enough to hold the prefect off. 

“It’s upstairs. Why?” 

Taehyun appeared as though Kai had struck him with a deadly force. He looked absolutely shocked and Kai wondered if there was some charm he could use to make someone forget. Before he could comment, Taehyun shut his gaping mouth, reached under his surprisingly dry towel, and fished out his woodsy wand which he aimed directly at the stunned boy. Without wasting another second, the prefect hissed a chant too low for Kai to hear but suddenly a breeze of hot air blew through the locks of his hair. He felt the warmth and the light airiness of the charm play out before the magic fizzed away. Kai stared at himself in the mirror, his entire head was dry. 

“ _Honestly_.” Kai heard Taehyun mutter as he walked by. 

“Is it even legal to wear this?” Kai asked as he fiddled with the massive black cloak that, for some reason, was part of their uniform. Finnick, Blaise, and Alder’s beds were cold and empty. Kai supposed they must’ve gone to shower or had decided to skip it entirely in favour of an early breakfast. There had been a fair moment of silence as they marched up to their room, but Taehyun seemed to be less distant than before and Kai would not let his close (mostly in proximity) friend go. 

From his bed, Taehyun snorted. There’s a rumble of sounds from his end of the room and Kai took care to shove his day bag with the textbooks he needed up until lunch. Instead of rolls of parchment, Namjoon had bought him a notebook except it was leatherbound and in it were pages of parchment. He wondered how much it would cost him to find a notebook like it in an antique shop in Chiswick. 

“What do you mean?” Taehyun’s voice called out. Kai closed his bag and plopped down on his bed. 

“The cloak. It’s way too big!” As if to prove his point, Kai dropped to the floor and walked over to Taehyun’s bed where the boy had stopped packing his day bag to give Kai an exasperated look.

“No. They’re only used as a coat, like when you’re cold or during formal events like the welcome dinner. You’d die in the heat if we had to wear that in Spring.”

“Huh. So it’s like a tuxedo?”

“A what?” Taehyun glanced at him, bewildered. Then the boy’s eyes flicked upwards and he seemed to have come to a realisation before he settled his brown eyes on Kai once more. “Ah. Yes. Tuxedos. Muggle formal garments. I mean, we have those, too. We just don’t call it that.”

“What do you call it, then?”

Taehyun huffed something under his breath that Kai was too slow to catch but then the boy was on his feet, bag in hand, and brushed down his jumper and gave him a curt nod. “Have you packed your bag?”

“No, but that’s not—Hey! I asked you something. What do you call it?”

“You should definitely pack your bag,” Taehyun said in a heavy sigh. He ambled closer to Kai’s corner of the room. He took in the disarray on Kai’s bed and the boy rushed to cover his underwear with his covers. The prefect looked away, but his mouth twitched upwards. “Seriously, come on. Let’s get breakfast already.”

“Not until you tell me the name of it.”

“Merlin,” Taehyun groaned. He shifted his weight to his left foot and said peevishly, “we don’t have a word for it! It’s just formalwear or dress gowns. There, happy?” 

“Exhilarated,” Kai mumbled. He seized his bag from his bed and shouldered it. Taehyun eyed him for a moment before he set off and out of their shared room. 

The Great Hall that morning was less busy than the night before. A good half of the school had gone to their early studies and commitments, but Kai preferred it this way. He and Taehyun were situated towards the Head Table alongside a few of their years. There were a few other houses at their table, too, and Kai saw that the House Tables were really all a formality. Kai thought he could make out Beomgyu’s blond hair from the gap between two Ravenclaw girls and, if he tried hard enough, he might just find everyone he met yesterday. Unlike yesterday, however, the food was less extravagant and if Kai could give it one word, he would say it was English. There were sausages and eggs to his left, and three plates of toast on his right. Dead centre was a metallic pot of beans, which popped every so often as though it were boiling even though there was no fire beneath it. 

As it turned out, Kai had most of his classes with a small section of his year group, which meant that he wasn’t completely isolated with his house. A collection of classes they referred to as ‘Core’ classes were mandatory whereas the last two classes he had to pick were optional. 

“Which one do you think you’re going for?” 

Kai stabbed the blood sausage on his plate. “I’m not sure. What are you choosing?”

“That’s easy,” Taehyun scoffed. The boy patted his mouth with a napkin. “Arithmancy and Study of Ancient Runes.”

“Arithmancy? Like maths?”

“Oh, no. Not pure mathematics. It’s like… predicting the future with numbers. The magic of numbers and sorts.” 

Kai scrunched his nose and patted his legs. He tried to muster what a class of predicting the future would look like but found it took great difficulty. He supposed it would be similar to probability except more magical. “Um... I might pass. I think I’ll go for Ancient Runes and Creature Care.”

“Really?” 

“Yeah. I’ve always liked animals,” Kai enthused, as he finally brought his knife down on his blood sausage, making a small cut, and drove it straight into his mouth with a fork. There was a slight pause when he felt the bitterness fill his mouth before it mixed into the sweet sauce.

Taehyun shook his head beside him and tucked back into his plate. “Not my thing, but I’ll tell you what. If you can stay in that class and not change until the Spring-Summer semester, I’ll buy you three packs of Fudge Flies at Honeydukes.”

“I don’t know what those are.”

“Huh.” Taehyun rested his fork and knife on his plate and brought his hands together as if he could recall the words he just said back with a touch of his fingertips. Then, he looked up and furrowed his brows. “Sweets? Confectioneries?”

“Oh. Sweets. Yeah.”

An image of the lunch trolley squeezing past the narrow passageway of the scarlet Hogwarts Express flashed in his head. Then he remembered the fiery surprise Yeonjun baited him with and shook his head. He wouldn’t want any if it were going to be that dangerous. 

Taehyun’s eyes are light honey with anticipation. He sounded as though he were issuing Kai a most impossible task. “Sweets. Yes. I’ll get you those if you stay all year long.”

“Why? What’s so bad about it?”

“Remember Choi Soobin?”

Soobin’s toothy grin and red and gold tie flickered in his head. Kai dismissed the conjured thoughts and nodded. Taehyun quietly reached out for the pot of butter in the middle of the table and slathered a thick chunk of it on his toast. Kai grimaced but kept his mouth shut.

Taehyun continued, “In the council meeting, Hagrid said that Soobin’s now his assistant or something. Teaching the younger years, he said. Dunno. He and Hagrid get along really well.”

“Hagrid?” Kai asked. Taehyun nodded.

“Yeah. The Creature Care teacher. Big guy who helps the first-years do their boat crossing journey.” Taehyun took a large swig of water from his glass. He wiped the edges of his lips with the napkin again and Kai found himself feeling rather gauche in the prefect’s presence. He couldn’t remember when was the last time he dabbed his face with a napkin. “You’ll know him when you see him. He’s very friendly. But yeah, just be careful. I’ve heard rumours, you know.”

“What? He’s been teaching Creature care since last year?”

“Oh. No,” Taehyun denied him dismissively, waving his butter-knife around. A few of the students around them had started to leave. “But like, I have friends in his year who told me how snobbish he gets in class. I doubt the power to teach dimmed that in the slightest.”

Kai pushed his lips into a straight line and made no further move to comment. It was strange, in the oddest sense, that Soobin’s entire character had been judged by a few people who took classes with him. Kai guessed he was prey to the very same prejudice at times. He thought about the unsettledness he felt around the boy and how he couldn’t feel right with him as he did with Taehyun and Yeonjun. A burst of chatter made itself known by the door and Kai craned his neck enough to check out the commotion. By the entrance, a group of girls fluttered around a trio of boys. After a moment, Kai could single out Soobin’s bowl-cut from the rest of the group. He nudged Taehyun and the boy turned around.

“The golden quartet,” he grumbled disinterestedly over another bite of his overly buttered toast. Kai grimaced and motioned at his chin to which Taehyun’s eyes widened before he snatched his napkin and padded away the sliver of sunny yellow butter across his chin.

When Teahyun’s momentary panic was assuaged, Kai cleared his throat. “Quartet? As in four of them? But there’s only three boys.”

“And a girl.”

The crowd inched closer and closer inside the hall until it dissipated by the Gryffindor bench and the quartet of students were left. There were still a few girls fluttering around Soobin and Kai felt bile rise to the back of his throat until he saw Soobin politely duck his head and wave them off. Kai stared a second too long at the way the boy’s lips lifted that he nearly missed what Taehyun was saying next to him. 

“...Soobin’s closest friend here, Lee Jeno,” the prefect’s voice trailed off nonchalantly as though he had recited this many times over. Kai eyed the tall boy, equally as gallant and broad as Soobin, who sported a matching boyish grin. 

“That’s Marvolo Black,” Taehyun whispered. Behind the two Asian boys, emerged another boy whose skin was as dark as the twilight sky and had a head of perfectly trimmed afro. He carried with him a set of thickly-spined books and his sleeves were rolled up, giving the impression that he had just finished a strenuous study. Kai couldn’t decide whether he was floored or impressed or both. He was quiet, but as Kai continued to stare he saw Marvolo lean in and exchange a few words, “Probably the only one in the group who hasn’t got any dirt on him, really. And...there she is.”

“Who?”

“The Quartet’s princess, Choi Jisu.” Just as Taehyun uttered those words, a bright girl traipsed behind the three boys except her tie and blazer donned the Hufflepuff’s yellow. She plopped animatedly on the bench across from the boys. She, too, wasn’t alone. A flock of boys were admiring her from afar and Kai wondered if this was normal school behaviour. 

“She’s not a Gryffindor.”

“Yep.”

“I thought Soobin was … you know… Gryffindor exclusive or something.”

Taehyun took one look at him and broke into laughter. “Where did you hear that nonsense? No, Soobin’s friends with mostly everyone. He tends to annoy some people and he’s just got some nasty beef with Yeonjun and his brother for some reason. Plus, Jisu is his cousin. They transferred together when I was a first-year.”

“Oh.” Kai watched the four of them converse in blissful ignorance of the bundle of admirers they'd acquired who had all but returned to their respective houses, but the hushed conversations about the group haven’t stopped. He could hear, rather faintly, whispers of Soobin’s status as Hagrid’s assistant then, more venomously, Lee Jeno’s latest heartbreak victim.

It made Kai itch in a way he had never felt before. He wanted to know, almost desperately, what had made Soobin great enough for all of these people to be talking about him? And how had he become a teacher’s assistant if they were all still students? The boy slunk back in his seat, legs bumping each other under the long bench as he glared at his mutilated sausage. Whatever feeling this was, he hated it.

“I’ve got my first class at the Astronomy Tower. Gotta get going if I don’t want to be late. Think you can handle finding Hagrid’s hut by yourself?” Taehyun asked but his voice was far away. Kai watched him fold his napkin and pick up his day bag, jumping to his feet. Kai looked around and spotted Soobin who threw his head back mid-laughter with his friends, and Yeonjun and Yeji by the head of the Slytherin table. His eyes darted along the green table until he found the one person he knew who wasn’t preoccupied.

“Yeah. I should be okay.”

“Good, good. What about that letter you wanted me to send?” 

Kai dove down for his day bag and fished out the makeshift envelope. He thrust it to the prefect, who took it without comment. “Her name’s Ceres. She’s an eagle-owl.” 

Taehyun nodded, gently placed the envelope on the front pocket of his day bag before he clapped his hands and smiled at Kai. “Great. I’ll see you in Charms after this?”

When Kai gave him a similar nod, the boy smiled and patted his shoulder as he left. The sausage on his plate didn’t alleviate the sudden gloom that showered over him. No, no more gloom! Not now, not for the rest of the day. It was his first day at Hogwarts! Kai slapped his knee, buzzing with new-found excitement. In a matter of seconds, he horsed down his plate. Kai dabbed his face a few times with the napkin then sauntered his way to the end of the Slytherin table where a lonely boy sat.

“What?” he asked before Kai could even say hello. Choi Beomgyu, Yeonjun’s brother, sat at the very edge of the Slytherin table alone with only his book bag to keep him company. His plate was mostly empty, except for the single slice of unbuttered toast. 

Around them, a group of friends—a few years younger than both of them—eye the two with eager glances, as if Beomgyu’s act of rudeness was the most entertaining thing they’ve seen all day. Kai averted his eyes and shuffled in his place.

He smiled painfully and waved. “Hey. It’s Kai. From yesterday.”

“I know who you are. Do I look like I’ve got dementia?” Beomgyu sneered before he ducked his head and planted it between his arms, shoving his plate away. Kai frowned at the leftover toast and thought what a waste of food. “What do you want?”

“I, uh, don’t know where Hagrid’s hut is. I’ve got Care for Magical Creatures next.” Beomgyu lifted his eyes and placed his long-suffering gaze on Kai. Today, his blond hair was smoother than yesterday. And he wore the white Hogwarts button-up under his dark navy Hogwarts jumper, an emerald crest embroidered on it. Kai watched the snake curiously before he snapped back to the present. “Please,” Kai added in a rush.

Beomgyu kept his stare on him before he grunted and lifted himself off the bench and snatched his day bag. “Fine. But I’m only doing this once.”

“Yes. Thank you!”

“Yeah, whatever. Let’s go.”

Kai’s eyes fell back to the uneaten toast. “You’re not going to finish your breakfast?” 

Beomgyu didn’t even reply, he simply scoffed and narrowed his eyes at the new boy before he walked away.

They made it out of the hall in quick steps. Beomgyu walked as though he had someone stalking him and was trying his best to flee without causing any unnecessary alarm. Kai bit his lip and barely managed to keep up with the boy’s rushed pace, but he couldn’t peep a sound. Beomgyu was all sorts of intimidation rolled into one person. On the train ride, he had started to warm up to Kai during their mock crash course. _They had even shared a handful of jokes!_ Kai thought, rather bitterly, what an absolute storm of a person Choi Yeonjun’s younger brother was in comparison to his steadying and grounded elder brother. Despite everything, Kai knew that desperate times called for desperate measures and if Taehyun’s stories about Beomgyu were even a fragment of the truth then Beomgyu wasn’t all bad. He was just tough.

“Of all the stupid classes, you had to pick the one out of the castle.”

Kai startled in his spot, thunderstruck that Beomgyu had actually started a conversation with him. He hastily went back to his long strides and caught up to Beomgyu. “I thought it’d be fun. Why? What did _you_ pick?”

When the silence endured, Kai scolded himself having thrown away his shot at friendship. Two Gryffindors walked past them, barely giving the pair a second glance. Kai ducked his head low and fidgeted with his bag’s zipper as he stepped outside into the Entrance Courtyard. The day was ordinarily gloomy, with thick clouds masking the warm sun. 

“No electives. Just the main ones,” Beomgyu grumbled. His shoes click-clacked on the masonry. 

“What? Why?”

Beomgyu stopped abruptly and snapped his head to Kai, his day bag bristled by his side. Kai fell a few steps short and he braced himself to meet Beomgyu’s soured face. His passive demeanour had been whisked away and left Kai with a ticking time bomb. Choi Beomgyu’s lips were curled into a nasty snarl and his eyes were ablaze with anger. 

“You’re a right talker, aren’t ya?” Beomgyu hissed. Kai gulped and Beomgyu pressed further. “Here’s a free lesson, _Kai_. Don’t go poking your nose around other people’s business or you’ll have to pay the price, got it?”

Kai nodded hastily, holding his breath. Beomgyu rolled his eyes before he lifted an arm towards the Viaduct, a high stone bridge connecting the Entrance Courtyard to the Clock Tower. “Hagrid’s hut is just straight down there to the right. Take the bridge, it’s quicker. I’m off.”

Kai watched the blond walk away and clicked his tongue. “Touchy,” he muttered under his breath. 

Kai didn’t understand why people could be so hard to deal with. It was a genuine question and he was curious! What was so bad about that! Would Beomgyu prefer it if he had gotten to know him through cheap gossip passed around the student body? _Seriously_! With a huff, the Ravenclaw continued his journey and stomped down towards the Viaduct. 

Hagrid’s hut was located near the woods, edging towards the Forbidden Forest a long way away from the castle. It had a pretty view of a miniature stadium where he could see a few students flying on broomsticks. He skipped down the stone steps as the other students had done, mindful of his grey trousers, and finally made out the herd of varying houses circle around a hut. Kai walked along, unmanned his bag and dumped it by a tree where the others had. He made quick work of the crowd and finally found a spot where he wasn’t too in front so as to be noticed by the professor, but also not too far back he couldn’t see.

He shifted a bit until he found the perfect spot and waited. As time went on, the group of students swelled and Kai wished he had a watch so he could tell when the class would start. More and more students came, most of them were Slytherins and Hufflepuffs. He craned his neck to try and pick out any from his house, since they could be potential friends, and found only two. A black-haired girl who was chatting profusely with a blonde Slytherin girl and a silver-haired boy at the very outskirts of the crowd. Alder Malfoy had his long hair in a ponytail, which highlighted his very strong jawline and cheekbones. He was nose-deep in a book, appearing very far away from the reality Kai was in. 

With a great thump, the hut’s door swung open and from it emerged a man twice taller than the average human man and three times as broad. Kai held in a gasp as the man towered over the students. _Taehyun was right_ , Kai thought to himself. The man was gigantic but not as large as he would’ve thought a giant could be. His hair was dark and unruly, blending seamlessly with his beard, and unlike some professors that sat beside him at the head table, Hagrid did not look much like a professor at all. 

“Alrigh’, folks! Gather roun’, come on.” His voice thundered the small clearing and Kai wondered if the students back in the castle could hear it as well. The students huddled closely, and from the corner of his eyes Kai could just make out a familiar mop of black hair. “Today I’ve got quite the day plann’d. Ev’ry one, grab yerself a partner and follow me!”

Ironically, the crowd seemed to have had some formed pact amongst them before they even arrived at the hut that every single student had paired off before Kai could even blink. He stood and watched as the line of his peers marched behind Hagrid into the woods. He cowered into himself, trying his best to not let the gloom set on him once more, before he picked up his bag and stepped forwards. His jumper was seized back from behind him but the force was enough to startle Kai and he nearly missed his footing.

“Ow!” Kai cried out, barely managing to keep himself upright. He saw the sky spin over him and feared he might have already been falling. But a steady hand caught him and pushed him upright. When he spun to face the culprit, Kai’s angry brows softened minutely. Choi Soobin beamed at him before his lips curled down in concern. “Oh, I’m so sorry, Kai. I didn’t want to scare you.”

“It’s okay,” said Kai while his heartbeat like a thunderbird in his chest, still feeling the fall. He faced the boy and smiled, attempting his best to not appear suspicious at all. “What are you doing here?”

Soobin took the question in stride and started following the now-disappearing trail of students, gesturing for Kai to follow with a sweep of his hand. He couldn’t help but think if there were some Oscars award to be given out for the best and most realistic liar because Kai felt rather award-worthy, but that would be too morally incorrect to be televised.

“Hagrid’s a good friend of mine! I help out with the creatures in my free time, so he asked if I had anything in the morning every week. When I told him I was free, he let me be his...uh... teacher?” His brows furrowed as he searched the grey sky for an answer. Then, more surely, he continued, “Teacher’s assistant. It’s nice. I get to see the creatures more.”

Kai spared him a glance and even he had to take a moment to fully process the fondness in Soobin’s distant gaze. They walked through a small garden of herbs and Kai wondered if this was Hagrid’s personal hobby since they were too organised to be wild plants.

“You must really like animals,” said Kai. 

Soobin turned on him and started walking backwards. His eyes lit in glee. “Yeah! Back in Mahoutokoro, you know Japanese school?” Kai could recall back to Namjoon telling him short anecdotes about his time at his Alma Mater, Mahoutokoro. He hadn’t been told much, but Kai nodded anyway. Soobin grinned. “I was always very busy with the creatures they had, too. They’re just really cool, you know?”

Kai hummed appreciatively. He hadn’t stepped foot into the Wizarding World in a while, but even he couldn’t contain the excitement he had to see an actual living magical creature. His mother had picture books of them she’d use to read to him when he was younger. He wished he could go back and bring it with him here. Kai met Soobin’s round eyes. “What do you do as a teacher’s assistant?”

“I don’t know, I guess we’re going to find out,” Soobin teased and sent him a wink. Kai blinked once then twice before he sputtered out his laughter. Soobin stopped his steps and clutched at his chest. “That’s rude! I was going to offer to be your partner but I see how it is. Enjoy your first-class alone, Kai.”

The boy was still fighting the tears that threatened to spill from his laughing fit when he saw Soobin march away from him and deeper into the woods’ embrace. “Wait! Soobin, I’m—Ha! I’m so sorry,” he managed to say between giggles. In only a few hasty steps, he was finally beside Soobin once again, still recovering from his fit. “Please, be my partner.”

Soobin’s brows peaked before they settled pretty heavily above his eyes, his button nose scrunched up and his two fingers captured his chin as though he had much to think through. Then, after a few beats, the boy settled his eyes back on Kai and declared, “Fine. But only because you asked so nicely.”

Kai grinned at him.

Hagrid’s lesson concerned skinny, grey-greenish spooky birds called the Augureys. They had a large set of blue eyes which bore unto his soul and he tried to keep himself from gazing into them when Hagrid had been explaining the learning outcomes of it all.

“Today, yer all learnin’ the do’s and don’t’s of this handsomely magical bird, the Augureys, which all of yer will find to be very helpful in the future!” Hagrid thumped around a tree stump that was dead centre of the clearing as the circle of students watched intently. Kai tracked his every move, even the bird that twitched on Hagrid’s leather-covered arm. “Yer gonna want to be able to tell when they’re cryin’ for rain or when they’re cryin’ for, well everythin’ else. Err… write this down on a scroll of parchment and submit it individually to me in two weeks time! I want a full report on these beauties! Now, get to it.”

The pairs split off, each of them selected a tree trunk where an Augurey perched on it. Kai gave Soobin a look but the boy was transfixed on the professor, who was now quietly observing the circle of students and their Augureys in trepidation. Hagrid also had a rather bulky Augurey on his arm, who stood tall and proud, its blue eyes hooded. Soobin wordlessly stalked after him and Kai could do nothing but follow and so he did.

Hagrid was much bigger closer than further away and Kai gulped. His voice, too, carried a different gravity to everyone else’s. Before he could see them, Hagrid gave the bird on his arm a fond pet as he crooned to it, Kai could already tell where the similarities between Soobin and Hagrid lay.

“Hi, Hagrid,” Soobin started cheerfully. 

“Well, if it isn’t my fav’rite assistant. What do ye need, Soobin? Think it’s best for ye to go around and patrol these kids, some of ‘em got that not right look in their eyes, you know the one.” Hagrid attempted to whisper, but even that was a few notches up in volume than a normal whisper. Soobin laughed at his comment wholeheartedly. Then, the man’s eyes flicked upwards and landed on Kai. “Oh! Well, I certainly don’t recognise ye. Name’s Hagrid, you are?”

“Kai. Huening,” he replied. Hagrid reached for his hand and shook it, Kai had to plant his feet to the ground to avoid being flung towards the trees and Hagrid guffawed. It reminded Kai of Santa Claus, but a raggedy version of him. 

“Pleasure to meet ye, Kai. Now, I hope you take this class seriously because this is some right nasty business, these creatures. One bad look and yer done for.” At Kai’s disturbed face, Hagrid bent down and gave his shoulder a squeeze. Kai winced at first but when he realised the man hadn’t applied too much pressure, his fear eased. Soobin sniggered beside him and Kai could only send the boy a questioning glance. “Arh, I’m just joking, lad. Now, whatcha need?”

Soobin stepped forwards and for some reason, Kai felt the pressure in his chest relax. “He hasn’t got a partner so I thought I could at least help him this time?”

“Oh! Yeah, course! Go fer it,” Hagrid exclaimed. “Wouldn’t be too hard, here, what with Soobin ‘elpin ye. I’ll need ye to get these birds back in their posts before ye leave though.”

“Of course,” Soobin answered good-naturedly before he tugged on Kai’s bag. “Come on.”

The Augurey that awaited them was far skinnier than the ones he had seen as he passed by his classmates. It almost appeared like it wasn’t strong enough to carry its own neck much less his head. Its legs were tired and wobbled every so often when it took a step to right itself up again. The bird was the most miserable thing Kai had ever seen and he so badly wished to look away. 

“What’s wrong with it?” Kai couldn’t stop himself from asking. As soon as the words escaped his mouth, he rushed into an apology but Soobin simply chuckled and waved at him dismissively.

While Kai was hesitant to even stand any closer than a few metres from the bird, Soobin took no time to slide upright against the tree trunk and bend down to capture the bird’s eyes. He rested a soft palm on the bird’s head and it gave him a soft croon in response. “The Augureys lay multiple? Multiple eggs at once, that’s why there were so many. Back then. Now,” Soobin’s frown deepened, “They’re usually hunted on because muggles think they’re eagles or other big birds. Because there’s so few of them now… decrease in population...there is always a _defected_ one in the batch. I guess she’s it.

“It’s not her fault she was born like that though. But she’s weak and has to be separated from the rest or she’ll die. I bet she can’t even fly.”

Kai chewed on the walls of his cheeks as a tiny wave of dread washed over him. Kai shifted in discomfort and observed silently as Soobin lowered his arms from the bird’s head and stared at it with an unreadable expression. Kai cleared his throat. “What happens when humans catch them?”

“They disintegrate to rot.”

“Wait, what?” Kai baulked, the uneasiness he felt increased tenfold. Soobin hummed before he straightened himself upright to walk to the nearby horde of supplies which included, but was not limited to, a fading merlot sack which had the words “Ecles Care Shop for Magical Creatures” on it accompanied by a tin pail and a brush.

Soobin dropped what he picked up by the trunk and finally looked at Kai. “Cause the muggles can’t know we exist, right?” 

Kai closed his mouth, which was open agape only a few seconds prior. Soobin pulled off his jumper, tied it around his waist, then rolled his white sleeves to his elbows. He then went for the rugged sack and tore it open in one swift motion, sending a few tiny brown spheres everywhere. The bird let out a quiet cry. Soobin was quick to hush her before he reached into the sack and scooped out a handful of pink and brown pellets. _Birdfeed_ , Kai thought. He stood up and placed his hand below the bird’s mouth. At first, the bird did nothing. Its bright blue eyes were fixated on Soobin before they blinked and went down to his hand. In an instant, the Augurey’s head snapped downwards before it gobbled up the feed.

Kai stared entranced as the remnants of his anxiety began to dissipate. The image was entirely bizarre. Here was a bird half the size of a human, almost resembling a small child, and it was pecking at this boy’s hand. It was absolutely absurd. Not long after the Augurey had finished its meal on Soobin’s hand, it bristled in its place, a few of its grey feathers shaken off it, then switched its weight between its two feet. A low rumble emitted from it before the bird’s beak was stretched obscenely wide and a high-pitched screech reverberated throughout the clearing.

The screech pierced his head and Kai brought his arms to cover his ears instantly. North of him, Kai saw Soobin do the same and he glared at the bird with a malicious curl of his mouth. Kai wanted to go up there and take him away, worrying for the bird for reasons that were unknown to him but his head pulsated as the frequency of the bird’s call grew worryingly high. All around them, the other students covered their ears, some were even brought to their knees. He thought, rather lately, he could just make out Hagrid stomping his way across the field to them but Kai shut his eyes and tried to not let the sound bludgeon its way through his skull. 

“Kai!” he heard a faint shout. With a massive effort, Kai held his head up and saw Soobin shouting at him, “Take this and cover your head!”

Kai was about to follow up with a question when he received a face full of Soobin’s jumper which he had seen tied around the boy’s waist. Instantly, he placed it over his head, a shield protecting him from something he didn’t even know what. 

Big, fat drops of rain fell from the skies in seconds and the bird’s call ceased. A heavy rain descended upon them and Kai could just make out Soobin’s blurry figure in the distance. The boy turned to face the rest of the class. The other Augureys were silent but blinked uninterestedly at the runt of their litter. Kai wondered whether they were opposed to having her here, if they were subjected to the same psychology as human beings, but thought it silly. 

When he peeked under the jumper, he saw the sky clear as day yet his drenched shoes said otherwise. It was late-Autumn rain, the ones that his mother would always curse at because that meant a hefty garden clean up the day after due to the unrooting of many plants in her garden. His mind snapped back to his partner and Kai searched for him only to find Soobin completely drenched from head to toe, his lustrous black hair stuck to his forehead and his white button-up was now as good as transparent. Kai willed his eyes to look away but Soobin’s gaze on the bird was curious and calculative. His eyes were heavy on the bird but the Augurey, entirely oblivious, was stomping around the trunk in what seemed like a dance.

Kai had to do a double-take as he saw the bird on its feet, no longer struggling to stay upright. What strength must be within that call, he thought to himself, to let something so weak burst with energy? 

When Kai finally tore his gaze and scanned the clearing, he saw that everyone else was perfectly dry, but the other students watched the two of them with keen eyes. Some Slytherins glared at him and a few Hufflepuffs had already returned to their tasks. Alder Malfoy was in the distance, paired with a Slytherin, his eyes caught Kai’s and wary before he averted them back to the proud Augurey in front of him. Kai stared down to his wet trainers and saw that the rain had perfectly been contained within a few metres radius from their tree trunk. Still in complete disbelief, Kai finally stepped outside the circle and the rain had ceased to exist, he could feel the chilly tendrils of the early Autumn breeze, yet the downpour was getting heavier by the minute inside their circle. 

“Merlin’s beard!” a deep voice swore breathlessly. Startled, Kai jumped back and saw Hagrid approach their trunk with stars in his eyes. The man was staring at the Augurey with barely-contained awe. “Never seen anythin’ like it… the runt… of all things!” Deciding that the rain was enough, Hagrid fished out his wand from inside his baggy coat and with one flick, the rain subsided. 

Soobin seemed to have been shaken from his trance. Silently, he got out his wand and muttered, “ _Calor caeli_.”

In a gust, his clothes dried till they were good as new and his hair had fluffed up back to its usual airiness. Kai had seen this spell before, Taehyun had done it on him just this morning. Soobin ran a hand through his hair, tousling it a bit before he gave the bird a hesitant pat. 

“Soobin, if yer gonna let yer bird just rain on er’where, at leas’ take care of yer friend.”

At Hagrid’s comment, Soobin faced Kai and repeated the spell. A warm glow surrounded him as thick puffs of hot air flew through his hair then down his jumper and shirt before they tickled below his trousers and finally vented out his shoes. Kai wriggled his toes, satisfied that they were no longer moist and itchy. 

“Thanks,” Kai called out. Soobin grunted distractedly, already picking up the stray brush from the soppy ground to groom the bird. His arm looked heavy as he dragged it across the newly rejuvenated bird’s back. 

Hagrid gave a slight huff then went back towards the group he was previously helping. “I want that wri’en in yer report, Kai!”

“Yes, Hagrid!”

Soobin remained at his place and Kai made himself busy by folding the boy’s strewn jumper. The ember crest with a golden lion shone up at him. He jogged back to Soobin whose eyes were going everywhere but him. Kai placed the jumper over his arm and tried to find Soobin’s eyes. 

“Are you okay?” he asked hesitantly “You look shocked.”

The Augurey yelped at one particularly harsh stroke and Kai was ready to intercept when Soobin brought both of his hands onto his hips, the brush falling to the floor. He had the most exasperated look on his face. “The runts usually can’t perform any magic… they’re just birds.”

“But this one can?” 

When Soobin looked at him, his eyes were hollow. “This one can.”

“Well,” Kai started, increasingly unsure under Soobin’s heavy gaze. “Maybe there’s an anomaly? Maybe being the runt doesn’t always mean they’ll… I don’t know… die?” 

Soobin shifted his gait so that his eyes were no longer on Kai, but on the bird. He lifted one long arm slowly, kept it hovering over the bird’s back before he retracted it. Kai had never seen the boy so flustered before-- if he could call it that. 

“Maybe…” Soobin said quietly after a while. He spoke again, this time louder and directed at Kai. “What about you? Sorry it rained, I really didn’t think it would.”

“Me? Oh, no. I’m fine.” Kai said before handing the jumper back to Soobin who accepted it with a small ‘Thanks.’ “Just… surprised, I guess. This whole transfer thing is very difficult.” Then, quickly, he added, “It’s all very different at Ilvermorny. I just have too many questions.”

Soobin sucked on his lips then nodded before he faced Kai. He had his grin back on his face, but it was a shade dimmer than before the class had started. “Ask me, I’ll try to answer as much as I can.”

“What, seriously?”

“Yeah.” Kai faced Soobin and saw the boy’s clear eyes. Soobin waved his arm expectantly. “Just keep them asking and if we run out of time, you can always ask me when you’ve got this class since we’re um… word… partners. Or whenever you see me, I don’t mind!”

Taehyun’s foreboding gossip about Soobin echoed in his mind - “Last year that Soobin boy tried to get Choi Yeonjun expelled. They had a whole trial in front of the board and everything!”. Here was the boy who threw his jumper at Kai so he wouldn’t get entirely soaked by the sudden rain. It didn’t help much, he remembered the squelch of his feet rather well, but the thought was what counted. Here he was offering Kai his knowledge to ease Kai’s overstimulated brain. How was this the same person as in those rumours Taehyun heard about Soobin’s pompousness and brattish behaviour? None of it added up. The more he looked into Soobin the more complex the boy appeared to him. It probably wasn’t morally correct to be intrigued by someone’s secrets, but Kai couldn’t help it. He couldn’t make sense of the story. Maybe the two boys got into a fight and that was it, but maybe there was something more. In any case, Kai wasn’t going to miss the opportunity to know more about the school and anything Soobin would offer to him. 

“Okay,” Kai started. He walked towards the Augurey but kept a half-metre’s distance between him and the bird. The bird didn’t mind, it craned its neck and peered downwards. “Why did it rain just now? And why was it only raining where we were and not the rest of this place?”

Soobin had gone to fetch the pail, which was deserted by the pile of resources. His voice was confident when he spoke. “People think… How do I say... Mice-conc-sepshun?” 

“Misconception?” Kai suggested, already used to the Gryffindor’s periodical mispronunciations. Kai never did ask him where he transferred from, but his dialect carried the same lilt as Yeji’s only stronger. _It made sense_ , Kai thought to himself, if Soobin had transferred in his second year to an all-English school when he used to never utilise the language. The boy showed up next to him with a quick nod, a tin pail in one hand and the brush on the other. 

He continued, “Misconception about the Augureys is that they let out this call when it’s about to rain.”

“Like a weatherman?”

“Sure,” Soobin said credulously. “But, you see, they’re wrong. The Augureys aren’t ones who see the weather, they _are_ what makes the weather. They make rain when they’re happy.”

“And when they’re sad?”

Soobin set the pail on top of the trunk, next to the bird, who squawked in curiosity at the new thing. “I don’t know. Nothing, I think. They sort of just walk around. Droughts, maybe.”

Kai stared at the Augurey, her ugly head rested on the edge of the tin pail, it was rather heavy so the pail wobbled until Soobin placed a steadying hand on it and aimed his wand, murmuring a spell which spontaneously generated water pouring out of the tip of his wooden wand. An image of the bird’s little dance when the rain beat down on them flashed in his mind. Happy rain? Now, _that_ was a juxtaposition. Any living person who has ever felt anything would call rain miserable, Kai believed. It caused landslides, grey skies, and uprooted plants that he had spent hours working on that morning in his mother’s garden.

“They crowd together when they’re happy,” Soobin explained as the water slowed to a drip from his wand. The bird crooned at the body of water before it dipped its beak into it and gulped down the drink. The boy dunked the brush inside the bucket of water then grabbed the bird’s left wing before he started to scrub it. The bird gawked but stayed put. “They make this huge flock and depending on how happy they are they can cover the whole sky and make huge storms.”

“Does that mean the U.K. is the happiest nation on Earth?” Kai mused. Soobin gave him a short laugh and a shake of his head. Once he was done with the wing, he dipped the brush again and went around the trunk to clean the right-wing. 

“No, the Augurey’s happiness isn’t from the muggle world. Their...source? Um...Their joy comes from their own flock. You know, like being around their own kind.”

_Own kind._ His traitorous brain recalled his lonely bedroom back in Chiswick and the solitude of his own home. He remembered the days where his sisters would wander into his room, rifling through his magic books, before his parents would storm in and drag them away. His mother gave him strict warning before Leah was born. He was only ten at the time, but his mother had told him that she wouldn’t tolerate any show of magic in front of his new sister. When Cassa was born two years later, he had gotten over the sting of it. Then his mother imposed strict rules on the allowance of magic after his sisters had gone to bed or when they were out of the house and he resorted accept his fate sourly. His life, way before his sisters were born, were the happiest years of his life. 

His mother used to cast charms and spells all around their house. Kai remembered, vividly, whenever his mother would receive an Owl. It would fly through the metallic mailing slot then their charmed broomstick, which acted more like a housekeeper than a broom, would sweep the mail all the way to the kitchen where his mother had multiple pots and pans on the stoves, all stirring and flipping themselves accordingly. Kai shook himself away from the past. Soobin had now thrown away the used water onto the clearing, making a splotch of wet dirt. Their Augurey watched the water disappear sadly. Perhaps these birds and he weren’t so different after all. Kai clicked his tongue then finally stepped closer.

“Let me try.”

Soobin raised his brows at him but handed him a different brush. This one was a combing brush with skinnier thistles than the previous one. He didn’t hover over Kai nor did he call out his mistakes if Kai made any. Soobin simply stood back and watched, only offering his advice when Kai asked for it. And Kai loved it. It was so different from how his parents used to mentor his studies growing up and for once he felt his own intuition flourish. Even if it was under the watch of Hogwarts’ most controversial student.


	7. Runes of Origin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Proofread by the lovely JC (@cathswaite) <3
> 
> Thank you so much for 1000 hits!!!!! Please enjoy this chapter :)

A loud bell which resonated from the castle signified the change of class. Soobin had just finished telling him about how he was originally a student in South Korea’s own magical school, KIM – Korean Institute of Magic, before he went to Japan for Mahoutokoro then here for Hogwarts. KIM was roughly located in the Southern regions of the country, Soobin recounted, and had a day school for all ages of magical children including those who were non-wizards.

“So why did you move all the way here?” asked Kai. He trekked over to where his bag was slumping on the giant roots of a nearby tree, which was fortunately dry unlike himself just a half an hour prior. Soobin picked up the brushes and tossed them inside the pail with a smoothness that suggested long hours after school, assisting Hagrid in any way he could. 

The boy shrugged and mulled over the thought. In the distance, Hagrid was heavily preoccupied with eagerly waving at the students who walked past him while simultaneously tending to a few of the augureys which had flocked together. 

“I wanted to work for the Ministry and then join the International Confederation of Wizards.”

“That’s cool,” Kai mumbled, flipping through his books for his timetable. “You can’t graduate from Mahoutokorou and work for the ministry?”

Soobin hummed a long tune before he answered. “Possible, but difficult. It is easier from here.” 

“Ah, I see,” Kai said. He fished out the flimsy piece of parchment and found that he had Ancient Runes next in classroom 6A. “Um. You wouldn’t happen to know where classroom six-A is, would you?”

“Six-A? Sixth floor. East wing. Do you have a class now?”

“Sixth floor!” Kai interrupted with a screech. “That’s gonna take ages!”

He could faintly hear Soobin’s voice telling him that it was all right and that there was really nothing to worry about since the school had taken its massive grounds into consideration for student transit time but Kai’s ears wouldn’t stop ringing. He hated being late more than anything.

Soobin set the pail aside and rushed towards him when Kai failed to reply. The elder of the two placed an arm on each side of his shoulders and jerked him forwards and backwards until Kai begged him to stop, fearing that his brain might just topple out. 

When he felt his head clear, he managed to lift his head to meet Soobin’s large eyes. The boy’s grin anchored him and Kai forced himself to breathe out of his mouth then in with his nose. 

“Climb up towards the Entrance and then take the Grand Staircase. Ask the paintings if you can’t find your way, okay?” Soobin pressed on and Kai nodded firmly. “It is okay, Kai. I’m sure the professors know you’re new.”

“Okay. Okay. Thanks, Soobin.”

Soobin beamed, eyes falling into crescents. “Anytime. You find me when you need help, yes?”

Kai stared into Soobin’s large eyes and felt his stomach turn. Not out of panic or alarm like it had a few seconds ago-- this was foreign and new. Pleasant and exciting. The boy straightened his lips into a straight line, the areas of his shoulders where Soobin had touched him flaming hot against the morning British breeze. 

“Yes. I will. Thank you, honestly,” said Kai in earnest. 

Soobin simply smiled and turned away to finish cleaning up the rest of the class’ caring kit, leaving Kai to pack his things and dash off. 

#

It took Kai a good minute or two to figure out where the Grand Staircase was, but he took Soobin’s advice and asked away. Each of the students (and paintings) pointed him along the general direction, almost like a makeshift GPS and Kai couldn’t help but chuckle to himself. He was talking to paintings! After several missed turns and bumps into less-than-amused students, he had finally found it. 

The Grand Staircase was as he and Yeonjun had left it, a puzzle. He worried his lip a little as he watched the groups of students of various levels await their wayward stair. He stepped foot onto the makeshift platform on the ground floor and waited. A staircase swung slowly from the right, carrying a pair of girls, when someone stepped up onto the platform next to him. Kai turned his head and the first thing he noticed was a prominent jaw. Then, the palest skin he had ever seen on a person. Alder Malfoy stood proudly with a few books in his hand and his tie tucked neatly into his jumper. He wondered whether the boy would also be in his Ancient Runes class. This, however, was interrupted rather abruptly when Malfoy’s eyes glanced over and met Kai’s.

_ Oh my God _ , Kai cursed in his head,  _ he’s gonna think I’m a stalker. _

As if his brain wasn’t tormenting him enough, his lips had parted wide and before he could register it he was introducing himself to the boy. 

“Hi! Um, haha. I’m Kai. Um, a transfer. I think we’re in the same room?”

The pair of girls walked briskly past them, sniggering the entire way as they caught the awkward introduction. Kai wanted to kick himself. Maybe he should just owl Namjoon to get him from the castle before he made anymore stupid—

Alder Malfoy’s stone-cold face thawed into a small smile. “Alder. That’s my name. And I think so, too. Pleasure to meet you.”

Kai nearly preened under the attention and he pinched his thigh to not appear over-excited. He was gaining more and more friends by the hour (Beomgyu’s morning accident not counting.) Alder had stepped up the staircase and Kai stumbled a bit before he rushed up beside him. 

“Nice to meet you, too. Are you heading up to Ancient Runes as well?”

“Oh no. I have Divination to attend to,” he spoke softly. His tone was gentle and serene as though he had never shouted in his entire life. Kai’s eyes flit down towards his hands, which were soft and pale like the rest of the boy--entirely unmarked. “I apologise, Kai, but I’m afraid I must cut the conversation short. Divination is a long trek away.”

Kai jerked and shook his head, grinning in a way he hoped conveyed reassurance instead of panic. “Oh! No, that’s fine. I also have to get going! I’ll see you later?”

Alder Malfoy gave him a short nod, his wispy silver hair swayed behind him. “See you later.”

They went up the stairs in tandem before they parted ways as they reached the top--Alder went straight down the corridor while Kai had to continue up until the sixth floor. With a rather belated realisation, Kai stomped on his foot for not asking the boy directions to classroom 6A.

Ancient Runes was taught on one of the highest floors in the whole castle. His thighs were leaden by the time he made it to the sixth floor and he briefly gasped for air when he was sure no one was looking. Even though he hadn’t figured out the equivalent of magical physical education, he didn’t need to out himself as being severely unfit. 

When he could finally breathe without feeling the need to cough, he continued down the long hallway, which was now slowly filling in with more and more students. A great number of Ravenclaws put his mind at ease, he must be at the right place. 

The cloister was vast and tall with stone colonnades supporting the arches giving way to a courtyard. He was so busy staring off into the distance, following all the navy ties, that he hadn’t realised he had bumped, rather harshly, into another student.

“Oops,” the person winced, his familiar deep voice confused Kai for a moment before he recognised who it was. Kai staggered back, painfully aware of the scarlet shame that crept up his neck. Yeonjun offered him a simple smile. “Kai! I haven’t seen you in a while. How’s the first day been for you?”

Kai let out a short laugh which ended in a croak as he willed himself to get his act together. The boy scratched at the nape of his neck. “It’s good. A lot of new faces. Um, I’ve got Ancient Runes in a bit though.”

“Oh! Right, yes. Course. Sorry for keeping you, mate. Please stay safe and good luck!”

“No, it’s alright. Really,” Kai insisted, because it was. He had asked a painting not too long ago for the time and, if his estimation was any good, there was a good two minutes he could spare before class started. But Yeonjun gave him a firm squeeze of his shoulder and shook his head. Before Kai could protest, the boy had already taken a step away from him. Kai reached out and tugged at Yeonjun’s blazer. “It’s okay, I’ve got a few minutes left before class. It’s nice to see a familiar face.”

Yeonjun smiled until his eyes were crinkled. He stepped aside to lean against the corridor’s marble wall. “Go on then. How was your day?”

Kai snorted. “Overwhelming? I got rained on by an Augurey. And your brother walked out on being my guide.”

“What! No!”

“Yep,” Kai nodded and laughed at Yeonjun’s disbelief.

Yeonjun shook his head and gave him an apologetic smile. “I’m awfully sorry, Kai. Truly. He’s not all bad. He’s just had a really rough year.”

Kai nodded mutedly. Beomgyu was the least of his worries when just this morning he had gotten under Soobin’s good graces where Yeonjun could not. He thought better than to mention Yeonjun’s so-called nemesis but then this might have been a good time as any since he saw the Head Boy so rarely. If he wanted to ask, he must lead Yeonjun into the conversation first. The boy’s hospitality made his first night in Hogwarts a good one, this was the least he could do as repayment. 

“How has yours been?”

Yeonjun sighed and pivoted so that his back was rested against the stone wall. “Busy as always. Not bad for a first day as the Head Boy, though. How’d you get rained on?”

“Oh, well. Funny story, ha-ha. I chose Creature Care for my elective.”

“Oh! I used to love Care for Magical Creatures. Dropped it when I was in the fifth year, though.”

“Yeah,” Kai laughed forcedly. “Hagrid sent us off with this project to research augureys. We had to work with partners, but I think everyone paired up before class started or something cause I didn’t have anyone.”

“Bah! They still do that? Actual pain in the arse.”

“Yeah, ha-ha. I had to pair up with Hagrid's assistant in the end. Turns out it was Choi Soobin.”

Yeonjun’s face remained as it were, showing no cracks in his mask if any had formed. His mouth stayed in that simple smile and his shoulders were lax. A herd of boys trailed past them, laughing obnoxiously at a particularly horrid joke this lanky boy at the front of the group--perhaps their leader--uttered. 

Kai waited for a few beats before Yeonjun replied, “How did that go?” His tone was soft and kind. Kai swallowed down his curiosity with a cough.

“Good, I think. He said I could come ask him anything.”

“That’s nice,” Yeonjun commented loftily. “And how did you find him?”

Kai chewed on the question. How did Kai find him? Soobin was, as far as he was concerned, a very prominent figure in their school for all the right and wrong reasons. He was both evil and good based on what Taehyun told him. He was charming and suave yet he had a certain boisterousness Kai hadn’t quite seen yet. To Kai, Soobin was as unassuming as any regular student. He was welcoming because Kai was a stranger who needed help. He wondered how their dynamic would shift should Soobin find out he was friends with the Slytherin Choi brothers.

He straightened his lips and sighed. “Confusing.”

Yeonjun shot him a funny look but before he could explain any further, the elder of the two cursed as he spared a look down at his arcane wristwatch. He gave Kai an apologetic smile. “Shit, I really need to go. I’m so sorry, Kai. Catch up soon?”

“Don’t worry about it. It was nice to see you,” Kai reassured him.

Yeonjun managed one final smile before he dashed off up the stairwell and disappeared from Kai’s eye view. The boy sighed before he saw a swarm of fifth years he recognised from Creature Care and subtly trailed behind them until they reached a small classroom with a long chalkboard at the front, rows of wooden chairs and tables, and the mandatory window which gave the room an airy feel. On the second row, he saw Taehyun nose-deep in a book wider than the boy’s chest.

Kai discreetly made his way to him then plopped down beside Taehyun before he poked him.

“Oh hey. How did it go?” Taehyun drawled, unfazed.

Kai let out a deep breath before he chucked his day bag underneath the desk and dove down to fetch his notebook. “Fine. Don’t think I’ll struggle with your bet.”

“Yeah? Why? Were you charmed?”

“No?” Kai furrowed his brows and set down the book on the table along with his quill set. Taehyun finally shut the massive thing he was reading and set it aside so he could fetch his own leather-bound notebook and prepare. “Soobin was… nice. He said I could ask him anything and he even became my partner when everyone else paired up.”

Taehyun snorted. “I don’t think he had a choice, really. Being the teacher’s assistant and all that.”

“But he even asked Hagrid,” he rebutted almost indignantly. Kai turned to face Taehyun but that was when the class door slammed open. A few heads turned around, including his, and at the doorway stood an Eastern Asian woman who smiled at them widely.

“Good mo-o—o-orning! I am Professor Kim Yongsun, you may call me Professor Kim. I will be in charge of teaching you Ancient Runes this year,” she singsonged. The class was quiet and watched her traipse along the passageway between desks up to the chalkboard.

The professor couldn’t have been older than thirty-something. She was slim and stood tall, but not in the same way the Headmistress had stood. While McGonagall had an aura of wisdom and reserved aptitude around her, Professor Kim carried the gait of an adventurer who had travelled distant lands and uncovered hidden truths with her sing-song melancholic voice. She talked airily like each sentence had been spoken before to another similar set group of children gawking at her sky-tinted balloon trousers and a skin-tight aquamarine vest. On her person, she had a good dozen bracelets which clanged as they clashed like a concert whenever she took a step. Her lips were thin, but she had a bright orange tint to them which made every single word coming out of her mouth more poignant.

Kai would say she was eccentric.

“Now let’s see. Percival Alwyn,” Professor Kim called out when she reached her desk and found a register. A boy at the very back donning a Hufflepuff jumper called out ‘Here!’. She nodded and continued down the long list of Bulstrode, Cavendish, Di Monti, then Eairsby… it went on and on until she sang out, “Kai Huening.”

Kai raised his hand and said, “Here.”

Professor Kim met his eyes and her orange lips curled into a slow smile. “Excellent,” she muttered before she glanced back to her register. Kai eyed Taehyun who gave him a questioning look. “Orla Ipswich… yes… Muhammad Ibrahim Jarvaise… Oh hello to you, too, Mr Jarvaise… who’s next?”

It continued this way for another minute before she set her register down and clapped two thin hands together. “Okay. Now, let’s see… you, Miss…” She glanced at her register. “Shin? Yes.” Professor Kim pointed at a brown-haired Hufflepuff girl who sat in front of her. “Get the books from the cupboard and pass them out, will you?”

Kai thought he heard the girl groan, but he might have imagined it. The girl stood up from her chair, sending it back with a screech, then went to the worn-down cabinet on the right-side of the room. As she side-stepped the desk, the long strands of her hair swayed revealing a Hufflepuff crest on her chest.

“It’s locked,” said the girl in the most unimpressed tone he had ever heard.

Kim fixed her with a strained smile. “Well, open it. You’ve learned basic Charms, haven’t you?” 

The girl’s face was shielded behind her cascading hair, but even Kai bristled at the blatant insult. Beside him, Taehyun’s gaze had strayed from the humongous book he had been reading earlier to observe the scene that unfolded in front of them. The girl grabbed her wand from the waistband of her skirt and pointed it at the cupboard’s knob.

“Alohomora,” she recited clearly. The cupboard’s lock clicked open. There was a tense second before she retrieved the hefty textbooks-- which were much thicker than the book Taehyun was reading-- and went to pass them to different rows.

“Right, everyone, page seventy,” Professor Kim called out, rather delighted at herself. The class was hesitant, eyeing the strange teacher warily but they slowly turned their pages.

When the books finally made it to their desk, Taehyun grabbed one and passed Kai the other before he sent the remaining pile to the girls behind them. Taehyun leaned into his space and spoke lowly, “Look, I’m not saying Choi Soobin is a bad person. I’m just telling you what I heard.”

“I know,” he whispered back. “I think I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. Also, I thought for a really old English school, they’d be hiring more English teachers… and she’s kinda weird, don’t you think?”

“She’s new. We had Professor Bethesda last year, a dry woman. I much prefer whatever Kim has going on,” was Taehyun’s only response before he turned over his book to the page Professor Kim told them to.

Kai bit his lip and opened the leather-bound book with a series of triangles and crosses on top of it, a scripture he was entirely a stranger to, accompanied by the words “Runology” under it. The pages were dusty, and Kai wondered if that was part of the class’ magic or if they just hadn’t been opened for a really long time. On page seventy there was an illustration of two runes. On the top of the page read: RUNES OF ORIGIN. 

Taehyun let out a small ‘huh’ next to him. “We’ve never used these books before,” Taehyun explained.

“What, like ever?”

Taehyun shook his head, his fingers flipping through the enormous pages of the book. “We had a different one. They always told us to buy it ourselves… how strange…”

At the front of the classroom, Professor Kim whipped out her wand and waved it like pencil mid-air yet her writing appeared in chalk on the board. “Alright! Professor McGonagall wanted me to start using the textbooks Hogwarts has. No problem by me,” Kim laughed. The chalk was finishing a word upon the board. Runes, it wrote. “And what better way than to start with the Runes of Origins themselves! Who here knows what they are?”

Several hands erected up in the air as did Taehyun’s. Kim assessed the class in pure delight. She lifted one dainty hand, the bangles on her arm clanking against each other, and chose the Hufflepuff girl who had helped her earlier. Kai’s mouth dipped into a frown as Taehyun scowled at the girl’s back.

Kai heard him curse under his breath, “Bugger. Bugger. Bugger.”

“Yes, girl,” the professor challenged. The girl cleared her throat then turned around to face her classmates. She was small, in the sense that everyone else was either older than she or she was extremely petite and had long umber hair that reached all the way down to her chest so that the Hufflepuff crest on her jumper was entirely masked. Her thin eyebrows would rise and fall as the words of what seemed like a fairy tale spilt out her pink lips. 

“The Runes of Origin are two runes which were said to be the beginning of all magic. Myths say that Merlin  _ himself _ uncovered those runes from the greatest sorcerer ever lived before him, Emerys.”

Her conspiratorial tone had only edged the class further and Kai heard a rumble of ooh’s echo throughout the class and the girl, Shin, grinned in satisfaction at her classmates. He met her eyes for a brief moment and her smile slipped for a second before she sat back and faced the board. Kai spared a glance at Taehyun who sulked in his seat, now occupied with drawing clouds on his notebook with his quill.

Professor Kim smiled, her tinted lips curved wickedly before raising her wand in one swift whish, lifting the chalk from where it rested. Almost in a mad daze, she drew a circle with a W in the centre then struck it through the middle with a dashed line. Then she stretched her arm over and scribed a structure that looked like an elongated antibody from his textbook from home, GCSE Preparation Biology, except this had two mini lines across its body like a belt. When she faced the class, her eyes were wide and her mouth had stretched into a predatory grin. Kai scooted closer to Taehyun but the boy failed to notice. 

An awfully tense silence invaded the class. When Professor Kim spoke, it was with the tinniest of voices--like a witch in those old Disney movies that used to make him curl away in fear and into his mother’s side whenever they were on screen. 

“Myths are myths. Yes, Merlin was powerful. No doubt about that! But he wasn’t the one who found these. No! Most Runologists, like myself, have even said that this was the closest thing Wizards and Witches have to a religion. Like, muggles!” Professor Kim bounced away from the board and plopped down by the ratty teacher’s desk on the left side of the room. The class, who Kai was sure, had mostly never stepped foot outside of their occult realm observed her keenly. A few Slytherins clicked their tongues in disinterest, but Professor Kim was relentless. “This was old, old magic. It came from the South and the East. This, boy and girls, is evolution! Right in front of our very eyes.”

Kai sat upright. Was she speaking of science? Beside him, Taehyun had rested his quill back in its pot and tuned in. The professor waved her wand which, now that Kai had time to focus on it, was unlike the wands he had been offered and had seen so far. No, hers seemed as though she had gone into the woods, grappled a twig off a tree and called it a day. It was unpolished and seemed as though it was as brittle as it looked. She dragged it southwards onto a book and pressed it down as though she was carving something in, but a bright light shone and the book blasted open which sent pages of it flying across the air. Each page folded into itself until all that's left was a herd of people-shaped paper.

“These were old times. Long ago before muggles had their own religious epiphanies.” The papers fluttered into numbers before they formed a cross then reassembled to form the runes she had drawn in chalk and a cave. “These two runes were reported to have been seen all across caves in the South and the East. Mining men found them and told their higher-ups who told their higher-ups until it reached their Kings.”

The papers, which were awfully similar to origami, folded and spun until they pictured a king, complete with a crown and a throne, and another body who had books with them. 

“He asked his advisor to study the runes. Very keen research because when they carved the first rune onto their skin…the magic and the power! They became the first wizards and witches!”

The papers flew with a whoosh, a weak mimicry of an explosion, and they oriented themselves to paint a wand--akin to a sceptre with its bulbous point and long body. Kai felt around his robes until he felt his wand press up against his hand. It was awfully tiny in comparison. 

“And the practice continued and continued and stayed in the upper class. Those who wanted the power would have the advisor carve it on their bodies.”

“What? Like with a knife?” Taehyun interrupted, aghast. Kai turned to face him and saw the boy had forgotten the doodles on his page entirely, his palms were now pressed against their table as he leant forwards. Professor Kim didn’t look the least bit disturbed, instead, she was giddy.

“Yes! Yes! Mister Kang, right? Yes. With a knife. People who had it could then pass it down. Like a blood trait! And soon the wizarding population grew and reached even the lowliest of castes. But… history isn’t beautiful, is it?”

There was an explosion of murmurs around the room--he briefly heard several whispers of ‘You-Know-Who’s and ‘Wizarding war’. Kai shifted uncomfortably as Professor Kim stomped to her desk and dove under it. Several students extended their necks as though it would help them see, but as quickly as she had ducked under the desk Professor Kim had bounced back up again, a small leather trunk in her hands.

She opened its clasp and a whirlwind of dust escaped from it, but Professor Kim was undeterred. She rifled through it, even so much as putting her entire upper body down its space. As if a trunk barely ten centimetres in height could carry so much, Kai sneered to himself, but then she pulled out a horse leg made entirely of clay and the class collectively shrunk away from her, some students even screeched and some were frozen in their seats. 

Professor Kim handled the leg with a gentleness a mother would caress her baby with. She brought it to them, showcasing it like a trophy.

“Wicked,” Taehyun whispered.

“And you know how it goes,” Kim trailed off wistfully--wholly oblivious to her stunned class, “the West heard of Runic magic and invaded the South and the East to scavenge for it and bring it back to their own lands.” The papers by the board folded until they pictured a group of people invading a village, setting fire to the huts and temples and hunting the people. Kai grimaced. “The West used arases! Horrific, ugly, and violent horses. Yes, yes with legs like these to scare them off.”

The papers shifted again until they formed a gigantic horse with a leg to match the size of Kim’s clay one was. It was so big that Kai, who sat several rows away from the front, could see the specks of detail in the caricature. The horse was unlike any normal horse Kai had ever seen--it was thin and sickly, almost as though it was made up of its skeletal frame and a thick skin over it. Its mane was the opposite of soft and spiked up in the most wicked fashion. When the paper arase turned its head to him, Kai tore his gaze away. 

“They found it and used it on their powerful and a few others to increase the blood pool. But...would you like to know what the worst part was?”

The silence stretched on as Kai and his classmates watched unblinkingly. The dissent hung heavy in the air but it seemed as though Kim was no longer searching for volunteering students. She cleared her throat, setting down the large horse foot on her desk as the horse-paper in the air neighed silently. “The first people they gave magic to were torturers… they used magic as a form of torture.”

Faintly, there was a bout of exclamations and debate but Kim paid no mind to any student talking out of turn. She simply waved her hand and laughed airly as though she had predicted this reaction. 

Kai took to his notebook, his quill scratching the page each time the ink dried up. Behind the professor, the papers fluttered again and formed a guillotine only now, the handler had their hands clean, a simple stick in their hand. With a simple swish, the silver blade fell down onto its victim’s neck magically--a mimicry of Wizardian spellcasting.

There was still a large body of students arguing with her, though Kai supposed it really couldn’t count as an argument if one side was entirely non-compliant. Kim raised her hand once more and sent those students a sharp look, the slits of her eyes dauntless. When they fell silent, she continued. 

“However, it was ephemeral,” Kim retold in a sing-song manner as she ducked down her desk to return the clay horse foot and the trunk. “Merlin raised to power—you can probably finish the rest of the story, am I correct?”

The Professor’s once bright eyes were beady and stared into the crowd in front of her with great conviction as the suspense grew headier in the room. The students from earlier have yet to voice out their opinions but one glance towards that lot confirmed Kai’s belief--they, like himself, were speechless. 

Kai drew in a breath when Kim’s gaze fell on him, an animalistic grin slowly starting to spread on her face. Suddenly, there was a harsh rap on the door and all heads turned to see McGonagall saunter in, a tense frown on her face. “Professor Kim,” she began, eyes cold. “Please follow me.”

Professor Kim’s paper origami show fell limply to the floor. If the Professor had any disdain towards the Headmistress’ interruption, she hid it well. There was no crack on her face, just a simple stoic look as she walked around her desk and towards McGonagall.

Kim stopped in front of the Head Mistress, who just happened to be right by Kai’s desk, and hummed lowly. Not challenging, just pure assent. “Very well.”

The very top of McGonagall’s grey eyebrows twitched before she stuck her nose high, turned in her spot, and walked out of the classroom. Professor Kim waited until McGonagall was outside before she turned around to face her class, giving them a childish wink. 

“Read ahead, children,” she advised before promptly following the elder witch.

Kai swallowed thickly as the silence ensued before an impish voice cried out, “Well, I thought we were talking about ancient drama, not dramatic ancients.”

A gaggle of laughter erupted across the class, and from where he sat, he saw that Hufflepuff girl from earlier grin smugly. Taehyun groaned as he dropped his head to his arms again.

Kai heard him grumble, “That brat.” 

“Taehyun,” Kai whispered, leaning closer to his friend. Everyone else was still too busy indulging the class clown. Shin basked in the attention gracefully as another joke slid past her lips. “Who is she?”

For a moment, Taehyun lifted his head to spare Kai a glance and rolled his eyes before he sat upright to slam his notebook shut. “That’s Shin Yuna. She’s a year younger than us but her  _ excellent _ academic record allowed her to take one advanced optional elective. Unfortunately, it just happens to be this class. Are you hungry? I want early lunch.”

Kai’s gaze was transfixed on Yuna, who flipped her hair over her golden-hooded robe. She reminded him of his two sisters combined--Leah, who was smart and quick-witted but used her brain to steal candies after dinner and Cassa, who was the family’s brightest star. He willed the sudden pang in his chest to leave but it only grew. Hurriedly, he packed his bags and mumbled in hushed agreement to Taehyun who already had his bookbag shouldered.

Taehyun headed out first, noiselessly manoeuvring away from Kai and the other tables towards the door where Kim and McGonagall had walked through only minutes before. Kai stalked over then surveyed the class one last time, finding a few empty chairs—no doubt other students who had also gone for early lunch like he and Taehyun were. Amidst the class, he met Shin Yuna’s eyes momentarily. She looked at him and tilted her head, calculative, and--for a second, Kai thought her eyes were alight with recognition. Her mouth had begun to form a word as her hand raised high in the air, beckoning him. Kai’s eyes widened as he hastily turned around and left. 

# 

“That went terrible,” Taehyun grumbled over a spoonful of some pie thing he called Yorkshire pudding. 

The Great Hall was significantly emptier than the morning and perhaps whatever magic was behind their dinners had expected it since there were only a few golden plates scattered at every other part of the bench instead of the whole table. 

Taehyun stabbed his spoon inside the pie and clicked his tongue. “I was so excited for it, too. Professor Kim was really interesting, though. Never had a professor like her before. Merlin, curse the Headmistress and that git Shin Yuna.”

Kai shrugged and spooned himself another bout of peas. He had tried a singular Yorkshire pudding—it really wasn’t bad at all, but he preferred his mother’s typical sandwich tomato and cheese sandwich for lunch than a piping hot pastry. Plus, his stomach has been turning an awful lot since they headed out of Ancient Runes. He was scared to name its cause for he knew it wasn’t something he could fix in the meantime. 

“I dunno. She seems interesting.”

“Interesting! HA! That’s one way of putting it.”

“She reminds me of my sisters,” Kai added after a while. His tone was gentle, voice soft like a whisper. It wasn’t as though he had been lying since he stepped foot in Hogwarts, but because of the prophecy, he felt himself shy away from his true self as the hours went by. This one line, one statement was the truest thing he had ever said to anyone since he met Namjoon. 

He began to spread his peas around his gravy-smeared plate to form a smiley face, which stared back at him soullessly. He just wasn’t hungry. Taehyun swallowed before he placed his cutlery on his plate and fixed Kai a look.

“You’re allowed to write to your family if you miss them.”

“Yeah, but…” Kai’s brain raced to find a believable alibi. He couldn’t tell Taehyun, not yet. It would be disastrous to drop something so big and conspiratorial to him this early on in their friendship. Think! “They’re, uh… too young to read.”

Taehyun’s thick brown eyebrows came together before he nodded. “What about your parents? Surely they could read it out.”

Kai laughed nervously and scratched his neck. “Too busy, you know how it is.”

To his relief, Taehyun grunted in agreement before he forked down a huge slice of stewed carrot. Kai waited patiently for him to finish and saw a few more students—three Hufflepuffs and two Gryffindors—amble into the Great Hall for lunch. They all sat down at the rightmost table, the Hufflepuff house’s bench, and resumed chattering amongst themselves. 

“I hear you. My mum’s off doing day work with the Ministry and my dad’s trying to get a shop in Diagon Alley. Mum says it’s a waste of his time and, personally, I think so too. My half-brother indulges him though.”

“Half?”

“His dad and my mum got divorced,” Taehyun told him dully, “then my mum married my dad and moved here and had me.”

Kai’s lips formed an ‘o’ as he nodded. He could never really empathise with that but, then again, if Namjoon’s hypotheses were true then his family was no better. “Oh… it sounds like you two are close though.”

“Who, me and my half-brother?” At Kai’s nod, Taehyun mirrored him. “Yeah. Taehyung’s really cool. We’re, like, seven years apart but sometimes you can hardly tell.”

Kai’s brows shot up in surprise as he dropped his spoon to turn to face Taehyun. “His name’s Taehyung? That’s so close.”

“Hm, yeah. Mum keeps saying we’re destined twins or something—whatever she meant. If I was a little bit bigger, maybe we could look more like twins since we were already attached at the hip. His dad used to scold him a lot when he was younger, you know--cause he’d keep using Floo Powder to go back and forth between our fireplace and his to play Wizard Tag.”

Kai laughed. And, unthinkingly, he blurted out, “There were a few too many words I didn’t understand.”

Taehyun’s eyes were scrutinising when they met Kai’s and Kai wondered whether he could disappear into thin air and fly away like the smoke billowing out of Hagrid’s hut that morning. Taehyun’s gaze was on him for a very long moment before the boy reached out for his glass and chugged down the water before he replied. “Floo Powder—the green thing that lets you transport between fireplaces? And Wizard Tag, the game. You know, you’ve never told me about where you were from.”

Ah, there it was. The inevitable fate that he had to face. How long was Kai going to skirt around it? He doesn’t know, but he surely wasn’t going to stop now. God, he was just so stupid, wasn’t he? Kai wanted to kick himself but then he saw a flash of earthy brown fly over him and Kai swore he was brought to tears when he saw Ceres glide over the hall towards them. She dropped a purple envelope on the bench before she flew up, turned, and landed softly beside Kai.

“Ceres,” the boy gushed, hand already petting her soft fur. The relief that pulsed within him was cool and refreshing. The owl hooted softly, beady eyes fluttering shut. Kai looked at his messy plate, then at the buffet of food in front of him and faced Taehyun. “Do owls eat meatloaf? Yes, right?”

Taehyun eyed Ceres with great disdain as she nipped Kai’s finger gently and frowned. “I wouldn’t know. I don’t have one.”

Kai would have to follow-up on that later. Ceres blinked at him with her wide amber eyes and Kai made up his mind. He reached forwards with his knife, tore a piece off from the brown meatloaf at the centre of the table, and offered it to the owl who tore it off the fork in one swift gobble.

“Eurgh,” Taehyun groaned. Kai laughed softly until Ceres’ beak came together then watched her fly out through one of the hall’s many open windows. The sun shone through her wings and Kai averted his eyes back to the envelope in front of him. Taehyun finally tore his gaze from the flying bird and read across his shoulder. 

“That’s a ministry emblem,” Taehyun gasped while pointing at the carefully embedded crest on the top right of the envelope. “You know someone there?”

“Uh,” Kai mumbled, racking his brain. Namjoon did say he worked at the ministry. And it wasn’t like he could possibly know Taehyun, right? Kai broke the emerald wax seal and opened the envelope before he replied, “Yeah. My cousin does.”

“Oh. That guy you sent a letter to this morning?”

“The one, yes. Haha. Now, let’s see…”

Kai unravelled the letter inside and sneezed when specks of glitter came bursting out from it. Kai grunted in confusion as the glitter shimmered down to his lap and clicked his tongue knowing full well how persistent glitter was. He felt the bench shift and saw, from the corner of his eye, Taehyun leaned in.

“That’s really expensive parchment,” Taehyun marvelled, “I haven’t seen that kind of lettering in ages and my mum works in the Department of Wizardian Literature! You’ve got all sorts of wizards and their preference of parchment, you know? I went to her work once, just before lunch, and saw patterned parchment, bleached parchment, and I think there was even a tea-stained parchment! Not this though.”

“Really?”

“Yeah! Wow...”

Kai held the glimmering page gently between the tips of his fingers, scared that even the slightest stretch could tear it and leave it illegible. He so badly needed to hear Namjoon’s calming advice right now. Despite everything, he couldn’t help but think it highly resembled a tacky birthday-card from the Lidl down his street at Chiswick.

“Right…Um,” he started. He unfolded the letter whole and another bout of glittery mess littered across his lap. Kai kept in his groan and made a mental note to himself to write to Namjoon about the utilisation of more discreet mediums.

_ Kai, _

__

_ I am so happy to hear that you’ve settled in. From what I’ve heard, Ravenclaw is a superb house. Go you! _

__

_ I’m afraid that the prophecy is unavoidable. There have been more and more Eastern wizards migrating here. You have a smart head on your shoulders, Kai. Do well to trust it. _

Kai reread that line over and over again, simultaneously warmed and sceptical. He needed Namjoon’s advice, not praise!

_ My life has gone back to normal. I’ve been asked by the Ministry to do a routine check North of the country now that I’ve spent all my time in the South. I don’t mind, of course, but it does get particularly chilly up there. Especially if you’re flying. _

Kai bit back a laugh but a tiny breathless huff escaped from his lips. An image of a half-owl half-Namjoon creature popped into his head. He warily checked on his friend, satisfied to see that Taehyun had preoccupied himself with finishing lunch before he read on.

_ I’m leaving in a week’s time. Ceres will still be able to find me, don’t worry. _

__

_ I went to check on Chiswick but the house (at least from the outside) looks no different. I struggle to believe that its dwellers share that sentiment. _

__

_ Please write to your family when you have the time. I hope your first day went well. Let me know when I can be of help.  _

__

_ Sincerely, _

_ Namjoon _

Kai took his time to make sure he hadn’t missed anything when he read the letter the first time. After his fourth skim, when he felt like he had processed everything, he folded the letter up and shoved it inside his book bag by his feet. He couldn’t hear Taehyun’s knife and fork from under the table, but when he looked up, he found Taehyun staring at him.

“Everything okay?” the prefect questioned. 

Kai’s lips parted only for him to seal it again. He smiled. “Yeah. Of course. Just telling me that he has to go North in a week because of the Ministry.”

“Ugh! Hate when that happens. But, he could see you though, right?”

“Oh, I doubt it…he’s very busy.”

“Right,” Taehyun trailed off. They sat in silence for a moment. Taehyun set his cutlery aside as the golden plate and the matching knife and fork were cleaned almost immediately. Any trace of food was polished off them by the air. Kai looked down at his own plate and mustered the will to finish it. Namjoon’s words calmed the turmoil inside him. 

He swallowed a whole three bites before he faced his friend. “Taehyun, why do you think the Headmistress interrupted Professor Kim’s lesson like that?”

“Probably because she was doing something she shouldn’t.”

Kai furrowed his eyebrows and rebutted, rather indignantly, “But she was teaching. Isn’t that what teachers are meant to do?”

“Yes. But maybe McGonagall didn’t fancy her teaching all of us that stuff.” Taehyun was bristling in his spot and the lines on his face framed his frown rather well. “Just. Think, Kai. Don’t speak about it. Think.”

“What stuff? She was just showing us runes,” Kai pushed on, ignoring him entirely. The prefect scowled, but Kai noticed it was far different from the malicious one he had received that morning from Choi Beomgyu. Taehyun’s discomfort was concealed cleverly from the abnormal twitch of his lips to the way his hands flew to the hem of his robes. They were minute but they were there. Kai met the boy’s eyes. “What?”

The prefect stood up abruptly, almost knocking the bench back a few inches. “I will not say such foul things about the Headmistress in the open. Look somewhere else,” he seethed. “I’m going to the library before lunch ends. I’ll meet you in Herbology, see you.”

Stunned, Kai gaped as Taehyun marched away.

The Great Hall was full now as more and more starving students filtered in having finished their first half of the day. There were still a few empty spots near him, but that was mostly due to the fact that the other students had flocked into their respective cliques and Kai never had one to begin with. Only Taehyun.

It was the oddest thing. He had thought that Taehyun was a rational person, calculative and observant. Not someone to implode on himself when a conversation gets uncomfortable. Like Beomgyu, his mind whispered. Kai stared at his lap and huffed. His black book bag rested against his thigh, a heavy weight pinning him to the world instead of flying into the hills of his mind—searching for answers to why his friend had left him.

#

There were no clocks in the Great Hall, Kai realised when he felt time start to tick away. The boy pushed the now polished and cleaned set of plate and cutlery away from him, crouching over to grab his book bag. First thing’s first… he needed to tell the time.

Kai made his way out of the Great Hall with minimal stares. Everyone seemed so taken with lunch and their company. He saw a few students were even eating alone, some were completely isolated from the rest of their group with their nose deep in a book, a quill in one hand and a fork in the other. The walk towards the exit was brief, but he found Soobin on his way who gave him a bright smile and small wave. Kai returned the favour and hoped that his internal distress had been hidden thoroughly.

Beomgyu was nowhere to be found.

The air was warm but much less agonising than the few days of true heat he had in Chiswick. Kai went over to the ledge of the staircase leading down to the Entrance Hall. He shucked off his bag, tossing it to his feet, and tried to get his jumper off as soon as he could. The woolly texture nearly made him sneeze, but he kept it in and shrugged the thing off.

“I know you from somewhere…”

Kai swore he jumped ten feet into the air. He turned around, arms still cuffed in the jumper and he was sure his hair was a mess. Behind him stood Shin Yuna. Her dark brown hair flowed straight down over her chest. She ogled at him, her eyes were unblinkingly scanning his face. Kai sputtered as he jerked away, but he tripped over his book bag and went crashing down onto the flagstone tiles.

Shin Yuna cackled above him, her eyes mirthful. “You’re clumsy.”

“I’ve had better days,” Kai grumbled as he rose. He dusted his trousers and folded his jumper, tucking it away in his bag. “You’re from the Ancient Runes class.”

“Yuna, the one and only! Pleasure. I’ve definitely seen your face before.”

Kai scoffed lightly, light tendrils of panic only beginning to clutch at his ankles. “I highly doubt that. I’m Kai, by the way.”

Yuna’s face slid into recognition and her grin only grew. “The transfer! Yeah, yeah. No, no, I’m positive I’ve seen you before. Hold on… give me a second…For Merlin’s sake! If only I could get the school’s Pensieve then maybe my memory wouldn’t be so muddy…”

The girl’s eyebrows were pinched together as she shut her eyes and clenched her fist, minimising herself. Kai’s heart ached at the view—he missed his sisters dearly and Shin Yuna was not helping in the slightest. There was no way Yuna and he could’ve met. His parents had made sure that no magic folk could find them and Yuna looked as magical as they come. White, hot panic surged inside him. 

“Pensieve…Sieve…the Morrowse! I’ve seen your face in my great aunt’s Morrowse!”

“Excuse me,” Kai muttered, willing himself to remain calm. “In your great aunt’s what?”

“It’s this pond at her house. It’s called the Morrowse cause its charmed ages ago to see into the future. Not as good as a seer, but it’s a tool for them. Oh gosh, if only I could remember…”

Yuna had started pacing around the small balcony they shared and Kai tried to take it all in. A pond which could tell him the future? It sounded almost too good to be true. But then there was that word. Seer. When was the last time he had heard of it? When? Think!

“Of course, not everyone’s entitled to a Morrowse,” Yuna explained matter-of-factly. Her eyes turned sharp and she pointed a finger at him. Kai stepped back, gaze fixed on Yuna’s dainty finger. “Only the best seers. Which is why my great aunt’s got it. Or, well. Had it. They’ll be choosing who takes over as the seer now, I think…”

Quickly, quickly! What was it? Who told him?

The dread worsened as he racked his brains. The uneasiness he felt exiting the class had grown tenfold and he couldn’t dampen it down anymore. His heart raced inside him and he was looking everywhere but Yuna. A couple of students exited the Great Hall then, not even throwing either of them a glance, before walking down to the Entrance Hall and out onto the Entrance court.

Then, distantly, a voice rang inside his head. It was careful and steady, supported only by the branches of wit and progressing intellect. Namjoon’s words echoed in his mind over and over again— _ “Sorceress Xia Liu was a seer, which meant she could conjure fragments of the future, and has since then been acting as a guide for the Asian wizarding world.” _

“Yuna.” His voice sounded strange even to his own ears. He tried clearing his throat but it only made a sizable lump grow in his throat.

Yuna, entirely oblivious to the sheet of terror that had just blanketed him, perked up. She stopped her pacing and bounded over to him, rocking on her heels when she was in front of Kai. “Yes?”

“Who was your great aunt?”

“My great aunt?” Yuna tilted her head slightly, as though this simple question had perplexed her before her wide eyes squeezed into mini crescents. 

Kai’s breath hitched in his throat. Around him, he could register the footfalls up the staircase from the Entrance Hall leading to the Great Hall, he heard the distant chirps of birds as the morning transitioned into noon, and--most of all--he could hear his heart thrumming in its cage. In fear, alarm, and apprehension. 

Yuna grinned at him. 

Then, she said, “Xia Lu, of course. You must’ve heard of her, right?”

And at that precise moment, Kai could only think of one thing. 

_ Fuck.  _


	8. Unlikely Friends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you to my saving grace, @cathswaite
> 
> \-- tell me what you guys think about the entrance of ahem... a certain ... interest character in this chapter lololol

Yuna’s pink lips were stretched into a genuine smile. Her eyes glinted as she boasted endlessly of Xia Lu. Kai wished he could take it all in but there was an incessant ringing in his ear.

Someone related to Xia Lu was in front of him and she had seen his face before. In Xia Lu’s magical foreseeing pond, no less! He was half stuck between disbelief and terror but the latter had gotten him in a vice grip. She must’ve known who he was before he even stepped foot in the castle. That’s probably why she kept gawking at him in class!

The tips of his fingers grew numb and he felt rooted to the spot. He could feel the bile rise up his throat and did his best to force it down. He knew his breathing had grown laboured but could do so little to relax it; any effort he made just made him even dizzier. Yuna was still gushing about Xia Lu and Kai desperately needed to leave. With his last bit of resilience, Kai ducked his head and stepped aside.

“I’m sorry, but I really have to go. Mind pointing me where Herbology is?”

Yuna visibly deflated and, unlike the few friends he gathered since he boarded on the Hogwarts Express, seemed insistent on letting her dissatisfaction be acknowledged. Her thin eyebrows were drawn together and her lips were severely downturned, any lower and they might just fall off. Her eyes were candid and clear when she glared at him.

“But why? Class doesn’t start for another thirty minutes! And I know you went out earlier with Taehyun. I saw you,” she complained. 

Kai scratched at the nape of his neck and averted his gaze. “Yes, well… I’d like to see the castle for myself. Haven’t got the chance last night, you see…”

Yuna hadn’t looked like she believed a single word he said and Kai did his best to remain still and open, giving her no signs that he was absolutely entertaining the idea of simply sprinting away. The girl’s hair swung to the side as she snapped her head to look out into the Entrance Court. Kai followed her and narrowed his eyes when the sun’s brilliance nearly blinds him. She ambled forwards until she was right at the very edge of the balcony peering down at the Entrance Hall, which housed a pair of Hufflepuffs giggling to each other, and the gigantic arc leading outside.

“This is about the Morrowse thing isn’t it?” she asked lightly. When Kai kept his silence, Yuna turned to face him so that her back was against the stone ledge. She fixed him with an all-knowing look. He was suddenly struck with how old she sounded in comparison to the childish petulance she had shown just moments prior. “Whenever I meet people and tell them about it they get spooked, too. Even the Asian students were shocked when I told them about it. Like you just now.”

It took Kai a while to find his words, but he did it eventually. He cleared his throat in hopes to sound less hoarse, a job bearing less than satisfactory results. “Then stop telling strangers you’ve seen their faces in some ominous pond maybe?”

Yuna’s face went still before her body was racked with laughter. Her hand flew out to hold onto the ledge as she bent forwards, wheezing. “Dear Merlin. Yeah, yeah, maybe. But we’re not strangers, are we? We’re classmates.”

“Sure.”

Yuna was still trying to stop the small fits of giggles attacking her once more. She only replied once she managed to collect herself. Her hands reached out to her head as she combed her hair back into neatness. “No, but seriously…it’s not all ominous, you know? I’ve seen faces in the Morrowse and it’s not always about some grim fate or great destiny. It’s just the future. The Morrowse once showed me this gangly looking man who I later met at Diagon Alley and it turns out it was just because he was going to trip on a cobblestone and set a first year’s rabid owl free from its cage. Can you believe that!”

“Oh, hardly,” said Kai. Yuna grinned at him and opened her mouth to launch into another example no doubt but he cut her off before she could. “So, you only see their face in the pond? Not the exact event they’re part of?”

Yuna hummed in contemplation and she brought her fingers to her chin, stroking it, as her eyes darted towards the right. “Um…sort of? When a face first appears on the Morrowse it’s usually like an introduction more than anything else. If it’s a really small event—like that guy who tripped,” she chortled before continuing, “then it’s usually just him, the outfit, and the setting. Like a photograph! Except they don’t move, of course.”

“So, you’ve seen me in something like that?”

“Yup,” she said, popping the p, “you look much older though. And, like, your hair was short…wait. Hold on, let me just. Have you got parchment and a quill? I can draw it out for you. My bag’s at the table, you see.”

Kai wordlessly sunk down to his bag and fished out the items she requested, handing it over to her in haste. Yuna took it from him and used the ledge as a makeshift table. Kai held the now-opened ink pot in his hand and let Yuna dip the feather into it.

Yuna began narrating as she drew confident strokes onto the torn piece of parchment. “You were way older. Like your hair was shorter, like this,” she explained. She had drawn a simple face, blank of facial features, and an extremely short head of hair which barely skirted his forehead. Apparently, he still kept the middle-parting. Kai grabbed at his mullet mindlessly. “Then I don’t think you were alone, but I couldn’t really see the faces of the people with you.”

Yuna drew a few blurry bodies in hairy lines behind him, still keeping him at centre point, before she drew out his body. “Then you were wearing, like, jeans and a hoodie,” she illustrated lamely. “But you had a sword!”

Kai observed her thin fingers drag the quill across the page as she sketched a rather mighty sword in his hand. He thought she would draw the sword as she had drawn the rest of the picture—harried and minimal, but she stuck her nose even deeper into the sheet of parchment and scribed the blade’s shadows and its guard’s diminutive details.

“Gosh, I wish I could use colour! But the hand thing was like a braid with red and black rope. Real romantic stuff.”

Yuna began at the hilt. She drew a round pommel and an arrow pointing the word ‘brass’ to it around the page. Then, she sketched the sword’s grip, a meaty and broadly stretched out oval, which had the braided pattern stitched across. She turned to him only to dip the quill in ink so she could colour in the darker weaves of the braid. Again, she pointed at a blank strand and labelled it ‘red.’ Next came the cross-guard. The girl drew thin crescents facing the sword’ point at each side of the hilt and then connected them back to the grip. She hadn’t coloured it and wrote ‘silver’ next to it. 

“This is… pretty detailed.”

Yuna grunted in agreement, her deft hand had just begun scribbling in the flashy diamond rain-guard. “Yeah. Visions in the Morrowse usually focus on one thing, though. Like, imagine if the rest of the picture had been blurred except for the catalyst—that’s basically this. I usually don’t remember all of it, but your sword was really cool.”

She was now drawing the blade. The spine of it extended further and further until she stopped just a few inches short on top of Picture Kai’s extended foot, she labelled this with ‘gold’ then ‘runic writing’. Afterwards, she outlined the edge of the sword and finally its point. Next to it was the word ‘silver.’

“Wait, what’s that?” asked Kai, pointing at the golden spine of the sword where a few runic characters were etched onto.

Yuna rotated the drawing until the runes were somewhat eligible. “Um, this,” said she while pointing at the first rune, “means take. I’m not sure about the rest, I’ll have to look through  _ An Account of Runes _ to figure it out.”

Kai stared at the full picture now and bit the insides of his cheek. How was anyone to see this and not think he was a great fit for trouble? He had to write to Namjoon and send off the picture. Maybe there was even a duplication charm so he could keep a copy of it for himself.

“I don’t even recognise that sword,” Kai muttered under his breath, fists clenching at his side. “Why would I have it?”

The image was so akin to a scene of war and Kai remembered Yeonjun’s grave proclamation of an Eastern Wizarding War on the train ride and his brother, Beomgyu’s askance gaze. He shuddered.

Yuna eyed him hesitantly before she reached out to place a warm hand on his shoulder. “Hey, don’t worry about it, okay? The future is just the future, right? Maybe you were play fighting or maybe you took part in a Triwizard Tournament,” she sputtered, trying her best to appear reassuring but miserably failing. Then, after a terse moment of silence, she forced Kai to turn to her. “Look, we don’t know the context. Please don’t automatically think of it as an omen, Divination’s reputation in the magical world is already suffering as is.”

Kai met her long-suffering eyes and choked on his words. He nodded mutedly and a relieved laugh bubbled out of her. He peered down at the image, still on the ledge of the balcony, and raised a finger to point at it. “May I?”

“Oh, yeah. Of course! If it means anything, I’m nothing compared to my great aunt so maybe my visions were wrong or I interpreted them wrongly. Please. Don’t let this drive you mad—I’ve seen wizards who’ve gone down that path and it’s not pretty.”

“Okay,” said Kai. He set down the pot of ink on the floor, closed it, and returned it to his book bag along with the dried quill and the folded piece of parchment with his future drawn on it. He felt immensely ill and the urge to bolt grew bigger by the minute. “Thanks.”

Yuna offered him a smile, but the edges of her eyes were sloped down in barely concealed worry. He decided not to dwell on it and took the chance to escape without another moment’s thought. A few Hufflepuffs were noisily skipping up the stairs, their hair wet and their jumpers long forgotten. One of them glanced briefly at Kai’s direction and gave him a small nod of acknowledgement. He was halfway down the stairs when Yuna called out to him.

“The greenhouses are on the Grounds, by the way! Quickest way is to take to the East Wing of the castle, but since you’ve got time you can go down past the Entrance Court and take a right until you find the vegetable garden!”

Kai sent her a thin smile and a thumbs up, not yet trusting his voice to speak without it breaking. Yuna sent him one last reassuring smile before she retreated into the Great Hall, her small figure disappearing behind the ledges. Kai stepped off the last step and strolled out of the Entrance Hall and onto the Entrance Court where the cloud’s whiteness burned his retinas. He was quick to shield his face with an arm over his head and waited until the rods in his eyes adjusted to the outside’s luminosity before he continued his trek down to the Green Houses.

The sun had disappeared once again behind the curtains of clouds scattered across the sky. He could pick up the faraway hoots of a few owls as they flew above the lake; one even dipped dangerously close to the rippling water before it soared into the air. He made a mental note to figure out the Owlery’s location so he could send his letters to Namjoon personally without the aid of Taehyun. His stomach turned at the memory of his friend and he dispelled the thought immediately.

The air was considerably warmer now than in the morning during Creature Care, and the cool breeze was a welcome sensation as his neck and ears tingled in the cold rather pleasantly. The bottom of his black trainers—Namjoon had given him proper school shoes made of blackened leather with a slight heel at the back that were impossibly tight around his ankles so he had stowed them away and used his daily shoes. He thought about splurging on wizarding athleisure footwear (if there were any), but he took one look at Finnick Hillsenry’s ratty sneakers and thought his Pumas were acceptable for the meantime—moulded around the cobblestone pathway which led him around the castle’s entrance.

He wondered how Namjoon would take it. A picture of him and a sword, meeting Xia Lu’s great niece, and even the Professor Kim debacle. He wondered how his parents would take it.

Kai shook his head just as he saw a few students flock towards a humongous tree dancing in the wind. The cobblestone pathway had given way to plush green bedding now that he was truly on the school’s Grounds. The grass under his shoes was soft and moist as though the morning dew had not quite melted away just yet. He trudged on, keeping to the castle’s walls while his eyes absently trailed to the three boys by the tree.

One of them had shed off his jumper, flashing the red and gold tie around his neck proudly. His build was similar to Finnick Hillsenry—the ginger boy who slept across him in his dorm—but this boy had a head of hay-blond hair. It flowed down to his shoulders—shorter than Alder Malfoy’s ponytail, Kai noted. The boy let out a shout before he sprinted towards the swaying tree with all his might. Kai stopped in his tracks and waited, jerking away when he saw the tree’s branches flail around like human arms in an attempt to knock the boy down. He managed to duck and turn a few before a stray branch struck him, sending him flying a yard and a half away from the tree. 

His two friends observed silently; one bore a Ravenclaw scarf around his shoulders as more of an accessory than for warmth—Kai saw the way he’d adjust it every so often—while the other boy crossed his arm before he turned around, a Slytherin crest on his chest. Kai saw the Slytherin roll his eyes before they landed on him. He hastily faced away and marched briskly down the grassy plains until he found plots of vegetables in petite square fences. He trudged closer until he was right next to the plots and nearly fell over when he heard the snap of teeth behind him. A plant no taller than his mother’s collection of tomato vines in her garden, with fiery azure petals and a magenta core, bared its ridiculously large teeth at him. Kai felt around for his bag. He drew it closer to his chest, propped up for protection, and slowly backed away until he could no longer hear its snarls.

As he carried on, he could make out seven large greenhouses arranged in rows. The grass had now subsided and all that was left was a dry brown track which had Kai’s shoes skidding every few steps or so. In front of each greenhouse were rows and rows of crops, some were still very much just a clump of dirt while others had grown to the size of trees. The plants grew into all sorts of colours and shapes—extremely unlike the ordinary flowers and vegetables his mother would grow. There was an especially tall tree, which reached just a few metres above Kai’s own head. It blossomed in tricolour, pink, sunset orange, and the warmest shade of green. It bore fruits as well—these small gilded orbs that gleamed when he looked at them.

Kai wondered how far the land stretched on like this and had his answer when he walked around the last greenhouse and found that a hill was hidden behind it—it had a soft curve towards the lakeshore and gave a generous view of the mountains lining the horizon. Kai went back around and saw that each greenhouse was deserted—perhaps students and Herbologists had to have lunch, too. Deciding it was all well to hang around until class started, Kai ducked around the last greenhouse—Greenhouse 7—and squatted down, using his jumper as a mat so that his trousers remained dry.

Kai pivoted to grab his notebook, quill, and inkpot from his bag. Arranging them by his side, careful to angle the pot so that it wouldn’t roll away. He then opened his book to a clean page and attempted to write. He managed ‘Dear Mum’ but soon fell short of words, he beckoned the apologies and the reassuring sentences to come forth and spill onto his page like ink splatter but none came. Kai could only watch as the ink dried on the page, lightening to a blueberry hue. He brought down the quill once more, but couldn’t muster the courage to set it to the parchment.

He heard the wind rustle the distant trees which lined the Great Lake before he noticed muted footfalls. Kai snapped his head around, surveying his surroundings for people, and caught a quick glimpse of stark blond hair. His eyes locked onto the Slytherin boy, who had his hands in his pockets and was now staring at him bug-eyed.

Beomgyu looked like a deer caught in headlights and Kai saw him shift his footing so he could go around the other side of the greenhouse, but Kai had always been fast on his feet. He shucked the book and quill onto the grass then jumped up to his feet and dashed over to the boy. Kai saw Beomgyu’s hazel eyes roll before they set on him, dull and unblinking. Just like this morning, he had a prominent scowl on his face and Kai pondered whether his mouth ever got tired of being downturned all the time.

“What,” Beomgyu grumbled in lieu of a greeting.

Kai inhaled deeply and clasped his hands together. The wind had grown stronger now and his fringe was embarrassingly stuck onto his forehead. He could hardly see Beomgyu between the tips of his hair. His fringe was nearly covering both of his eyes and his previous haircut, no thanks to his mother, had left him with a weird in-between mullet at the back of his head— he wondered briefly if Namjoon would let him get his haircut before New Years.

Still, Kai couldn’t help the warm familiarity at seeing Beomgyu that rushed through his arteries and into the edges of his fingertips. His first day at Hogwarts had been overwhelming thus far and Beomgyu’s presence wasn’t entirely unwelcome. Yeonjun and he were brothers, surely there was some similarity between them.

The boy bit the insides of his cheek then looked to his feet. The tips of his black trainers had mini scuff marks from the dusty grounds by the greenhouses and crop plots he skidded away from earlier. “I’m sorry about this morning. For making you uncomfortable, I mean. I didn’t mean to.”

There was an austere silence before Beomgyu huffed, kicking at the moist grassland beneath them. “Sure, whatever. Now scram, this is my place.”

“Huh?”

“I said,” Beomgyu repeated in a very dull tone as if Kai was the dumbest person he had ever met, “get lost. This is my place.”

Kai stared at him incredulously then scanned the perimeters. He rested his hands on his waist. What was Beomgyu on? If Kai wanted to get bullied, he might as well walk in with his head down to Ilvermorny. Hell, he might even just owl his former bullies and tell them to meet him at the nearest Dust Blower—a rather dirty mode of transportation that worked similarly to the Floo Powder network Taehyun had explained to him over lunch.

The Dust Blower was a portal in which wizards and witches were able to transport through without leaving a trace. Its entrance was any and every sewer hole across the country. It wasn’t a pleasant feeling, going through the Dust Blower—grimy, dizzying, smelly, and dark- Kai was never fond of it. Every trip through the Dust Blower felt like his brain was being rattled and, more often than not, left him with nausea and a bitter aftertaste. His mother would sneer at the slight mention of the Dust Blower. It was mostly used in the States for schoolchildren and other young wizards to go around undetected for a short period of time since it was the only mode of transportation that required no licensing or adult present. It was all good fun until it was used for more nefarious purposes.

Like potentially kidnapping a classmate after school and taking him on one Dust Blower trip after another until he didn’t know where he was and was found the next morning by the MACUSA.

Kai suppressed the shudder he knew would take over his body when recalling those evil memories he had so long ago trapped away in the very back of his mind. He was much bigger than before-- taller, too—there was no way he would let himself be placed in such circumstances ever again, he would not let himself be considered as less deserving than anyone else, as anything less than whole. 

Kai gave the blond a once-over and scoffed, straightening his lips before he gestured at the fields and the rows of greenhouses behind him. Ire tasted bitter on his tongue.

“I’m sorry,” Kai started, not sounding very sorry at all. “But I think you’re misled. As far as I remember, this is a school. And, as students of this school, we have every right to roam around wherever we please, right? You have as much right to call this place yours as I do—in fact, you know what! I’m claiming it. This is my place. I was here first.”

Beomgyu was stunned silent before he narrowed his eyes at Kai. “Are you daft?”

“Sometimes, but not often.”

Beomgyu growled, all menace and fury. Eyes flashing, he stalked even closer into Kai’s space until their knees were close to touching. Kai clenched his fist and rooted himself to his spot, keeping his eyes levelled with the Slytherin. Beomgyu went to open his mouth but Kai beat him to it.

“You know what? I’ve actually had it with this school! It’s not very welcoming at all. It’s my first day and I’ve already been rained on, left by several guides, and must now seek refuge behind some dirty greenhouse because I haven’t got anyone else to hang out with. Your brother said that everyone could and would help me here! I didn’t peg him to be a liar.”

“He’s not,” Beomgyu retaliated quickly. As soon as he said it, Beomgyu’s gaze fled Kai and the boy looked furious. His lips were curled into a heavy frown and his eyebrows were tightly knitted together.

And Kai realised, rather abruptly, that perhaps the rumours going around him regarding the Choi trio were not baseless after all. Beomgyu’s scornful glare made its way back to Kai—something in those deep eyes made him turn away as Kai felt the ugly spear of discomfort pierce through him.

Kai raised his arms slightly, a peace offering. “Alright.”

The scowl had dimmed on the Slytherin’s face, but not by much. The intense emotions on his face flickered shut and, soon, Kai was left staring at a wall of nonchalance. Beomgyu clicked his tongue as another beat passed them before he spoke again. 

“If that’s what you’re looking for, you should’ve gone to my brother. Maybe he’ll actually listen to you.”

Kai straightened his lips into a straight line. There was a twinge of hurt behind those last few words but Kai was afraid that if he went and poked around where he wasn’t welcome, he would be meeting the bottom of the Great Lake very soon.

Beomgyu sidestepped him then took long strides down closer to the lake before he sat down on the wet grass so that there was at least a few metres’ distance between him and where Kai had sat earlier. Kai bit the insides of his cheek before he returned to his spot, only mildly appeased by the victory of taming down Beomgyu’s tempestuous bites.

‘Dear Mum’ glared at him from the page. Kai sighed before he went to find the folded image Yuna had drawn for him. It had a slight crease down the middle, but it was otherwise fairly clean and untouched. If it weren’t for Yuna, he would never have recognised himself in it for he looked nothing like himself presently. The boy in the picture was gallant and confident, wielding the sword as though it were a part of him. The blurred crowd behind him followed suit; none of them had weapons but they had their wands at the ready behind him. He was leading them.

Kai could never imagine doing such a thing and risking his laying-low for some greater cause just because a hag told him so. All he wanted in life was to prove to his mother that he could defeat his own dangers and to return her rightful life to her. She was once the brightest witch of her team and now would not even dare to touch her wand unless it was used as a prop for Kai’s lessons back home.

The boy felt the weight in his chest grew heavier and he banished the thought. He then glanced at the sword’s blade and the messy runic writing scribbled on top of it. 

“Hey,” Kai called out. Testing. “You any good in History or Runes?”

The wind’s whispers were his first response then, “Stop talking to me.”

Kai slumped at his spot and wished that he had Taehyun with him. Even with his strange exit at the Great Hall, Taehyun was—at the very least—still amicable with Kai whereas Beomgyu appeared as though he wanted to roll Kai down the hill they were both perched on and watch him drown.

But Yeonjun’s voice rang clear in his head, a truth that he was only privy too. Beomgyu wasn’t all bad. Kai nodded with great resolve then decided to go for it.

It wasn’t as though his day could get any worse.

Kai jumped to his feet, gripping the piece of parchment in his hand like a lifeline. He heard Beomgyu groan the second he closed in on him and watched the boy turn away as he sat down beside him. He unravelled the piece of parchment and offered it lamely on his palm, its edges fluttering slightly at the breeze. Kai watched the movement raptly, still couldn’t find it himself to look up at the boy. 

“Your brother said you weren’t all bad. I think he’s right,” mumbled Kai.

A beat of silence passed between the two of them. Kai saw the wind drew waves on the lake beneath them, forming curls of water before they smoothened out into a typical glassy surface and sighed. Then, out of his periphery, he saw Beomgyu’s dull eyes flicker at the drawing and stayed there momentarily.

The Slytherin jeered as he angled his body even further away from Kai. “Came to show me your doodles, have ya?”

“Do you know a girl called Shin Yuna? Third year Hufflepuff,” Kai said instead. Beomgyu’s voice died down mid-mock and he merely grunted in acknowledgement. “She drew this for me. Said she saw this in the Morrowse or something. Think you could help me figure out what it says? Right here.”

Kai pointed a finger at the sword’s blade where the runic inscription lay. Beomgyu peered at it reservedly before he scoffed. “Don’t need to. Anyone with a right mind could tell you exactly the name of this sword. Merlin, that Yuna girl’s a propa doylem. The Morrowse is never wrong, so it must be her.”

“What do you mean? What is it?”

“That,” Beomgyu said, pointing at the sword in the picture, “is Excalibur.”

Beomgyu must’ve seen the blank look on his face because in the next second he had taken the page out of Kai’s hands and shoved it in front of Kai’s face. He nearly went cross-eyed trying to follow it, but any complaints he was bound to make died in his throat as Beomgyu spoke again. “King Arthur’s sword, Excalibur? The one that was borne of fiery breath and all that. Got lost after Merlin banished it as the story goes. Don’t you know?”

“Um, no…”

“Well, I wouldn’t do anything if I were you—‘s just a doodle, innit? She keeps sayin’ she’s gonna be the East’s maverick seer. Spitting out all kinds of delusions, she is.”

“Right… yeah…”

“There’s no way ya could’ve found the Excalibur, mate,” Beomgyu grunted, seemingly resolute with the subject. He handed the parchment back to Kai, who accepted it wordlessly, and leant back to rest on his elbows. “Merlin’s gave it his best at getting rid of it before he went off to die like an old fart. I’d throw it out or something.”

Kai wasn’t sure how one could so easily give a backhanded comfort, but Beomgyu had just done it. He felt the tension between his shoulders and his mind ooze away somewhat, but he couldn’t help the irritation that spiked up at the boy’s tone. He glared down at the page, at Yuna’s curly handwriting, and remained pensive. He couldn’t shake off the ominous gloom which hung off him like a shadow.

“Don’t you think it looks like a war?”

Beomgyu chortled in pure disbelief, “A war, you say?”

“Yeah. I mean, look. There’s people following me and it’s all very hasty and unclear—”

“Kai,” Beomgyu interrupted him. The boy sat up and slapped Kai’s shoulders with an icy hand. Kai suppressed the shiver that crept down his back when he felt the moisture seep past his dress shirt. “Come off it. Seriously. It won’t do you any good to dwell on some girl’s sketch.”

“But don’t you think it’s somewhat connected to the prophecy?”

Kai winced as the words flew out of his mouth and into the conversation. Beomgyu paused for a moment then gave him a look of utter disbelief—his dark eyebrows had shot up to make space for his widening eyes as his mouth fell open. Beomgyu’s eyes darkened and his lips were curled into a seriousness Kai was a stranger to.

“Are you saying that you’re a part of the prophecy, Kai?” he questioned slowly, all forms of banter ceasing to exist.

Kai shook his head fervently. “No. No, I just… forget it. I just wanted to know what was written on here. Never mind.”

Kai went to stand up and retreat to his spot, the frustration making his blood boil and his head felt foggy. A cold hand snaked around his wrist and tugged. Kai halted his steps, but he wanted nothing more than to go up to his dorm and crawl into his bed until the next day arrived. Beomgyu wasn’t looking at him, but his touch was firm. The early Autumn breeze swirled around them. Kai kept his gaze on the greenhouses’ peaked wooden rooftops and the sheen on the glass which make up the building.

“Take me up.”

“What?”

Beomgyu retracted his hand away and Kai felt his wrist even colder than before. “The inscription. The runes say ‘take me up.’”

“You can read Runic writing?”

“No. Had a thing for legends.”

“So, you must know the legend behind this sword, right?” Kai questioned, eyes bright and hopeful when he squatted down next to the Slytherin boy. Beomgyu regarded him with an unreadable look before he nodded with great hesitance. Kai plopped down next to him and folded the image away, storing it in the back pocket of his trousers before he snaked his arms around his knees and rested his chin upon them. “Can you please tell me?”

“Storytelling is not my forte,” Beomgyu reasoned hastily. He was now sitting cross-legged, and if it weren’t the stormy look on his face, Kai would’ve thought he was about to meditate.

Kai quickly rebutted, “Doesn’t matter. Plus, I didn’t have a lot of books growing up. We were moving everywhere so often, it’s difficult to pack them, you know?”

There was nothing around them except for the sound of the wind’s soft hum and the lake’s echo. The clouds had partially envelope the sunny sky once again and Kai felt his sweat cool at the back of his neck. Sweating in England brought certain alertness to most locals he knew—the Taylors, a childless elderly couple who lived in the stout red home beside him in Chiswick were very diligent in reminding his parents whenever the day got too hot. Kai struggled to keep in his reminders that most countries, much closer to the equator, suffered worse heat, but he always managed to stay silent. He knew his parents wouldn’t want their neighbours to see him anyway.

Despite the heat, Beomgyu looked entirely impartial to the weather. He had the default uniform, save for the large cloak, and looked proper and ready. Not a bead of sweat was evident in any inch of skin Kai could find.

Beomgyu’s gaze went askance. “You really want to know?”

“More than anything,” said Kai after a beat.

Beomgyu brought his left hand up and read the watch on his wrist. “It would have to be very quick. It’s quarter to one and I’ve got Potions next. Which is all the way on the third floor—”

“Yes. Yes, of course. Please. Just a quick summary.”

“—And it’s not like I remember all of it.”

“That’s fine!”

They stared at each other for a minute before Beomgyu let out a low grunt and turned to face him, sitting together on the grassy fields overlooking the lake in the afternoon breeze. The sun’s presence hadn’t been entirely erased from the skies; Kai could still feel its warmth on his skin whenever the trees would shake vigorously when a particularly strong torrent came blowing through.

Beomgyu’s usually guarded eyes were crystal clear. The clouds in the sky reflected prettily in their dark abyss and Kai willed himself to focus. The boy cleared his throat, rubbing a hand across his jaw, before he began.

“It was a sword that had magical prowess because it was burnished by a dragon’s breath. The whole thing was because King Arthur’s father, Uther, had made a bad deal and somehow had a dead man seeking his revenge on him so they needed an immortal weapon to kill the immortal enemy.”

“Oh…of course it is. Who made it?”

Beomgyu’s hand went down to grip a handful of grassy weeds and twisted them, snapping each blade of grass within seconds. “Merlin, course. He was King Arthur’s slave at the time. Think he went up to advisor or something, dunno.”

“Hold on. I thought Merlin attended Hogwarts? That’s what I read in  _ Hogwarts: A History _ .”

Beomgyu scoffed, “It wouldn’t make any chronological sense for Merlin to be a Hogwarts student, Kai. He was well old when the four founders built it. Probably some hogwash the Headteachers use as a promotion strategy.”

“You don’t sound very fond of them.”

“What? The Headteachers?” At Kai’s nod, Beomgyu laughed hollowly. It was a dreadful sound but Beomgyu kept doing it for a long while. When he spoke, his voice was rather hoarse. “Not fond of them is an understatement. I loathe them. They’re good for nothing oafs who pretend they know everything ‘cause of their titles. It’s absolute shite, I’ll tell you that.”

Kai bit his lip. Beomgyu’s suspension was a well-known rumour. Of course, he’d hate the teachers! It was too illogical not to. In the silence, he realised this was the most Beomgyu had talked to him in a single seating. Even during the train ride, Yeji would address Kai more than he.

Then, Taehyun’s words rung in his head— _ “I will not say such foul things about the Headmistress in the open. Look somewhere else. _ ”

Why had he gotten so defensive? If emotions were a spectrum, Beomgyu and Taehyun were on opposite ends. Kai fiddled with the wrinkles on his trousers before he squinted his eyes at the mountain range in the distance. Beomgyu was still torturing the plot of grass beneath them and Kai had half a mind to tell him to stop. But he decided against it and asked the boy instead, “Do you know Kang Taehyun?”

Beomgyu’s eye roll was brief but there. He snorted, “Who doesn’t? Mister goody-two-shoes. You’re his friend, aren’t you?”

“Yeah. He left me at lunch earlier cause I asked him something about the Headmistress and he freaked out.”

“Freak out? That’s unlike him,” Beomgyu drawled, only mildly intrigued.

Kai flailed his arms in the air then flopped them onto his lap, an exasperated exhale escaping him. “Right! Told me that he wouldn’t say such foul things about the Headmistress in public and that I should go somewhere else. And then he stormed off!”

Beomgyu tore his gaze from the blades of grass by his hand and placed his eyes on Kai. The latter had just finished sputtering out his vexation when the Slytherin chuckled mutedly. He sighed, as though Kai had said something only a naivete was capable of, then returned to picking the ground.

“Of course, he would. He’d much rather eat shite to get to where he wants to be than stand up. A bit of Slytherin in him too, I think.”

“So, he’s a coward.”

“No,” Beomgyu said, “just because you play your cards right and not speak when it’s not your turn doesn’t make you a coward. He said not in public, right? Doesn’t that mean he’d do it if he were elsewhere?”

“Oh… but still! The Headmistress was too suspicious for me to just forget about it. Plus, it’s not like Professor Kim was doing anything wrong! The entire class was just too strange.”

“What happened anyway?” Beomgyu questioned.

Kai huffed and went to pick at the sewing line of his trousers. “We had a new teacher for Ancient Runes and she taught us about the Runes of Origin. Then the Headmistress barged in and told her to follow. Isn’t that suspicious to you?”

“The fact that you’re still asking makes me believe that you’ve got worms for brains.”

“Hey! That’s not nice.”

Beomgyu remained wordless for a while, letting the airy breeze speak for him before he responded, “It was obviously censorship.”

Kai furrowed his brows and lifted his head to meet Beomgyu’s dark eyes. They were stagnant in boredom and stayed on Kai’s face listlessly. “What, like she’s not letting Professor Kim teach the subject?”

“The topic, more like,” Beomgyu corrected.

Kai ruminate in silence. He had been to a few countries which had a strict ban on certain websites, foods, and even drinks but not once had he realised that the same practice could be applied to education. What an awful waste! How was he supposed to learn and become a real wizard if they weren’t allowing him the full spectrum of the Wizarding world with all its good, its bad, and its ugly?

Kai let out another dejected huff and his head raised before it fell down again in a slump. Kai’s eyes drifted down towards the lake, trailed the long expanse of it towards the horizon, then hopped onto the backs of the mountains in the distance before they landed on the boy beside him.

Beomgyu’s hair was much shorter than his—only a few short inches away from a military haircut. Thin, blond fringes fell over his forehead like a shallow curtain and they sway minutely as a draft of wind blows past them. The boy’s eyes were directed at the lakes ahead, tracking the forming and vanishing of small waves across its great expanse.

Come to think of it, Kai had never seen Beomgyu with another student aside from his own brother and Yeji—though Kai supposed that was more because Yeji treated Beomgyu as an extension of her own friend, Yeonjun. It was crystal clear now as Kai stared at him, how bleak the boy’s isolation must be.

Kai had grown up alone with a section of loneliness he hoped no one else would ever know. After his sisters came along, his parents' focus shifted towards them more than him. He was tasked with small responsibilities at first, like taking Cassa and Leah out to the garden to get their daily sun bask--then none at all after he left Ilvermorny.

They still housed, fed, and tucked him to bed, but that was the bare minimum wasn’t it? His mother used to pet his hair before she left to get the girls to school, but, as they grew older, she stopped checking in and left him at the house wordlessly in the mornings. His parents used to act as his tutors when the girls were still babies, but he knew his dad had to commit to his job or they won’t be able to pay off their rent and his mother had her hands full with his sisters.

It was all very reasonable, really. He knew that.

He knew that, but it still hurt.

Beomgyu was still gazing at the distance. This calm silence emanating from the Slytherin—acceptance and defeat tangled together in a cacophonous harmony, an environment Kai was so in tune with for he had spent years of his life wasting in it. He knew this song by heart, how to sing and dance to it, too.

Kai thought back to the augureys and Soobin’s bewilderment at seeing the runt of the herd call on a storm when it was supposedly magicless. He remembered the way the other augureys disregarded the sickly bird with distaste at the beginning and Kai thought he might’ve seen the same sentiment plastered on Soobin’s face. Then Hagrid’s speechless glee before he ended the rain with a flick of his wand. And, Soobin’s faraway voice of the augurey’s happiness— _ " _ _ Their joy comes from their own flock. You know, like being around their own kind _ _.” _

“You wanna know something, Kai?” offered Beomgyu suddenly, ending the quietude. Kai hummed in question and waited for the boy to continue. “I don’t think I’ve ever met a Ravenclaw as determined as you.”

“What do you mean?”

Beomgyu had long since stopped torturing the plot of grass they sat on and decided to keep his hands by his lap. “Just…you know…they’re always so in their heads—most times, really. But when they ask something, they’ve almost always gotten the answer in their minds. Well, not an answer, I don’t think. I’ve never met a Ravenclaw with an obsolete answer. Everything is always up for debate with them. It’s a menace, honestly.”

“But I do that,” Kai defended quickly. He clambered up to his knees so that he could tower over the Slytherin. “I’m all of those things. I think. A lot. Like, just now! I was thinking.”

“Right.”

“But I do. Really.”

Beomgyu cut him off with a simple wave. “I never said that you didn’t, Kai. I simply mentioned that none of the Ravenclaws I’ve met so far are like you. I think that…being kept inside this hell hole for seven years and not furthering any education aside from that gives us very limited personalities, don’t you think?”

“What do you mean? Like…university?” Kai asked reluctantly. He knew how Beomgyu felt about muggle tradition and the association to the muggle world itself—the boy’s sneer at Kai’s blood status was still imprinted hotly in the back of his mind.

Beomgyu had the gall to look slightly ashamed and he returned to his grass picking again. “Maybe.”

“But I thought you hated muggles! You made fun of me for being a half-blood.”

“I know,” Beomgyu stated. No apologies, no explanations. Just a statement. Kai felt himself fume before the boy resumed. “It’s sort of a trademark, though, isn’t it? Slytherins hating anyone other than purebloods.”

Kai’s eyes nearly bulged right out of their sockets and the boy was quick to stand up, completely aghast. There were hate crimes forced upon people considered the lower castes—Hell, Kai had his entire student career tarnished at the age of eleven because some nasty kids thought he was lower than them. And for Beomgyu to wave off his privilege in a dismissive joke?

And he thought that they might become friends after all.

Kai brushed off his trousers as he scoffed and Beomgyu looked mildly alarmed. The Slytherin reached for him and when Kai slapped his hand away, Beomgyu finally jumped to his feet. “Hey, wait. Where are you going?”

“Are you kidding me?” Kai seethed. His blood was boiling as it rushed through his arteries and he could hear the beating of his heart in his ears.  _ Thump, thump, thump _ . “You’re such a jerk.”

Kai went to step away but Beomgyu was quick to rope a hand around his wrist and tug him back. Kai struggled against him and tried to free his arm but it was to no avail. When Kai finally looked up at Beomgyu’s face he saw nothing but pure confusion and that only spiked his anger even more.

“No, wait, what did I say?”

Kai’s mouth flew open and stared at him agape and when he finally figured out that Beomgyu wasn’t pulling a bit that he was, really, genuinely confused, he barked out a cold laugh. “The fact that you’re not even remotely aware of how ignorant you sounded is hilarious.”

When Beomgyu remained silent, Kai pressed on.

“You’re always talking to me like I’m dumb and, you know what? Yeah, sometimes I’m completely clueless at how this world works but at least I’m not an arrogant prick who makes jokes about things that seriously affect people!”

“Is this about the pureblood thing I said earlier?”

“I don’t know! Is it?”

Kai’s breath came out in short huffs and he felt extremely exhausted all of a sudden. He had just thought that he found someone who could understand the years of torment he carried on his back only to have said person extinguish any and all hopes of them ever becoming friends. Kai bit his lip and looked away.

The castle’s bell signalling the end of lunch break permeated their tense silence and that was only when Kai heard louder rumbling behind them. It seemed as though his class had arrived and someone had opened the greenhouse allocated for his lesson. He peeked around the glassy walls and found Taehyun alone, nose in the book he was reading earlier, and waiting by the side of the crowd. By some mild coincidence, Taehyun’s eyes flickered up to where Kai stood and the two boys stared at each other before he saw Taehyun start to make his way over to him.

“I have to go,” Kai decided, still not looking at Beomgyu. He briskly walked over to where all his stuff was, tossing all of it in his book bag—shutting the letter he tried to write between the pages of his notebook—and wrapped his jumper around his waist. He made to walk around the greenhouse to where the rest of his class were but Beomgyu blocked the gap. Kai huffed in annoyance. “Move.”

“Look, I’m sorry,” Beomgyu began. But Kai wasn’t having any of it. The boy tried to sidestep the Slytherin, only for Beomgyu to follow. Kai curled his fingers into a fist. “Kai, honestly. I mean it. I’m sorry.”

“It doesn’t matter. It’s not like we’re friends,” Kai spat out bitterly.

That seemed to do the trick because in the next second, Beomgyu’s eyes left his and the Slytherin stepped aside silently. Kai clicked his tongue before he left the grassy fields, Beomgyu, and whatever moment they shared earlier.

And to  _ think… _

“Hey,” Taehyun said when Kai reached him halfway across the dusty grounds. “Were you just hiding behind the greenhouse?”

Kai wasn’t even remotely surprised that Taehyun was acting as though he hadn’t just left Kai in the middle of lunch because he was afraid to talk badly about McGonagall. Not after talking to Beomgyu he wasn’t, his brain supplied bitterly. Kai pinched his thigh.

“Yeah. It’s got a nice view. Wanna go in?”

Taehyun nodded curtly and Kai let him take the lead. They fell in line at the very back end of the queue. The rest of the class had entered before them and Taehyun was waiting for Kai to come out from behind the greenhouse. Each student was to put on full body suits since they were dealing with a particularly poisonous plant this semester, Taehyun had explained to him. Kai hoped it wasn’t whatever he encountered by the vegetable patch earlier.

Just as he was to enter the greenhouse, he felt a pair of heavy eyes on his back but when he turned, there was no one there.


End file.
